128 



LEGUMINOS.'E 



3. L. iilii:;nn'^si/s (Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil).— Generally hairy, 

 but sometimes glabrous, i — 3 feet high ; sfei/is tubular, weak, and 

 usually supported by surrounding plants ;' leaflets obovate ; peduncles 

 very long : fJiKccrs deep yellow, 5 — 12 together ; cafyx-ieef/t, while 

 in bud, spre.iding like a star, two upper ones diverging. — Damp 

 places ; common. — Fl. July, vlugust. Perennial. 



4. Z. ii//x'tis//ssiM//s (Least Bird's-foot Trefoil). — A much smaller 

 plant than Z. lOrniciildfiis, prostrate, hairy, with shorter /»/?/■;/<-/« ; 



flowers solitary or 2 together, small, yellpvv, fading green ; pods an 

 inch or more m length.— South of England, 

 near the sea ; very rare. — Fl. July, August. 

 Annual. 



S. L. hhpidns (Hispid Bird's-fout Trefoil), 

 a closely-allied, more silky form, \\\^ flowers 

 2 — 4 together, not fading green, and pods not 

 more than j in. long, occurs very rarely, near 

 the sea, in Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall. — 

 Fl. July, August. Annual. 



11. AsTR.ic.vLUs (Milk-Vetch). — Herbs 

 with stipulate, impafipinnate /eai'es : Jlo'ocrs 

 in axillary racemes or spikes ; ca'y.x with 

 5 sub-equal teeth ; corolla with blunt keel ; 

 stamens diadelphous ; /ft/ with a longitudinal 

 septum, 2-valved. (Name from the Greek 

 astrcii^alos, a pastern bone, but not applicable 

 to tfjis genus.) 



T. A. alpinus (Alpine Milk-vetch). — A 

 slender, prostrate, hairy plant, with 10 — 12 

 pairs of oblong leaflets ; free stipules : shortly- 

 stalked, close racenies of a few drooping 

 floK'ers, which are white or pale blue, tipped 

 wuh purple ; and pendulous pods covered 



with black hairs.- --( )ccurs very rarely oh Scottish mountains. — 



Fl. July. Perennial. 



2. A. ddniais (l'ur[)lo .Milk-vetch), ^A similar .species, with 

 8- -10 pairs of leaflets; connate stip'i/les, opposite the leaf; 

 peduncles longer than the leaves ; plowers many, ascending, in 

 ovoid heads, purple ; and erect pod<:. — llry soil, in the eastern 

 counties ; rare. k1. June, July, i'erenftial. 



3. A. flYeypttytlos (Sweet M ilk-vetch). -»- A nmch laiger species; 

 stems 2 — 3 feet long, stout, prostrate, zigzag, glabrous; leaflets in 

 5 -(, pairs ; sti/uiles free ; plo7oers in sbort-stalked, dense, short 

 racemes, creamy-yellow ; pods erect, cuj-ved, smooth. — Thickets 



Lurus cokniculAtus 

 {(^oininon Bird' s-fpol 



