LEGUMINOS^ 125 



usually in 12 pairs, lanceolate, acute. Peduncle longer than the 

 leaves, and hairy like the calyx. Spikes capitate, ovate. Bracts 

 nearly or quite as long as calyx. Flowers lemon-yellow, occasionally 

 with brownish claws or white, or blue (var. ccerulea Koch). Legume 

 erect, sessile within the calyx, ovate, acuminate, inflated, semi- 

 bilocular, slightly hairy. 



Stony places and pastures in the Alps up to 9500 feet, and 

 descending into the plains. June to August. 



Distribution. — Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps ; 

 Pyrenees ; Scandinavia, Britain (very rare). Found on most of the 

 high mountains of Europe. 



Oxytropis piiosa DC. 



Stem erect or ascending, 4-12 inches high, softly woolly, like 

 the whole plant. Leaves pinnate, with 7-13 pairs of lanceolate 

 or linear, entire, mucronate leaflets. Stipules lanceolate, sessile at 

 base of leaf-stalk. Flowers ochre-yellow, in dense ovate heads, at 

 length elongated spikes. Pod erect, linear-lanceolate, nearly cylin- 

 drical, woolly, nearly sessile within the calyx. 



Sunny hills and stony pastures in the Alps. May to July. 



Distribution. — Jura, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps, Western 

 and Central Asia as far as China. 



COLUTEA L. 



Colutea arborescms L. Bladder Senna. 



A shrub 6-8 feet high, not spiny. Leaves pinnate, with 7-1 1 oval 

 leaflets, finely pubescent. Flowers yellow, rather large, standard 

 streaked with brown. Pods much inflated, 5 cm. by 2-3, pendent, 

 membranous, veined and glabrous, closed at the top, while C. 

 orientalis, which resembles it, has pods open at the top. 



HiUs and sunny places in the plains, extending in Switzerland 

 rarely into the sub-alpine zone, as near Stalden, and in the Maritime 

 Alps to 2000 feet only. May to July. 



Distribution. — East and West of France, Eastern Pyrenees, 

 Switzerland, Central and Southern Europe, Western Asia, Algeria. 

 Often cultivated and frequently sub-spontaneous. 



Hedysarum L. 

 Hedysarum obscurum L. 



Stem 6-12 inches high, erect, simple, glabrous or with scattered 

 hairs. Raceme usually long-stalked, terminal, with sometimes a 

 secondary axillary raceme. Leaves pinnate ; leaflets ovate or 

 lanceolate, entire, obtuse or acute. Stipules membraneous, opposite 

 the leaf, 2-cleft. Calyx, peduncle, and pedicels shortly hairy. 

 Flowers large, bright reddish purple, somewhat crowded, pendent. 

 Legume 1-4 chambered, finely downy or glabrous, pendent. 



