ROSE FAJIILY I37 



acute ; J/mcers bluish-purple, 2 — 6 together. — Boggy meadows,; 

 rare. Fl. June — August. Perennial. 



10. Z. maritiiiius (Seaside Everlasting Pea). — Stem prostrate, 

 glabrous, glaucous, angled, not winged ; leaflets 6 — lo, egg-shaped; 

 peduncles shorter than the leaves, 5 — lo-flowered; floweis purple, 

 variegated with ciimson and fading to blue.— Pebbly sea-shores; 

 rare. — Fl. June — August. Perennial. 



'*'*^* J-'ere;t>iials : leaflets 4 — 12; without tendrils: floivers 

 2 — S together. (Bitter A'etches.) 



11. L. niontd/ius (Tuberous Bitter \'etch). — Hoot tuberous; 

 stem simple, erect, winged ; leaflets 4 — S, oblong, glaucous beneath ; 

 stipules half-arrow-shaped ; flowers 5.yi\\a.ry, purple, variegated with 

 purple, fading to green or blue. — ^A'oods ; pommon. A pretty 

 spring Vetch, growing in similar situations withlthe Wood Anemone, 

 but appearing somewhat later. It may be at once distinguished 

 by being destitute of tendrils, the place of wljich is supplied by a 

 soft, bristle-like point. The tubers were eaten in the Scottish 

 Highlands, under the name of Cormeilk, a very small quantity being 

 said to allay hunger. — Fl. May — August. Perennial. 



12. Z. n'tger (Black Bitter A'etch), distinguished by its branched, 

 angled, but not winged ste)n, and its very narrow stipules, occurs 

 rarely in rocky woods in Scotland. It turns black when dried. 

 — Fl. June — August. Perennial. 



Ord. XX\T. Rosace.e. — The Rose Family 



A large and important Order occurring in all parts of the world, 

 and comprising more than a thousand species of trees, shrubs, 

 and herbs. They mostly agree in having scattered, stipulate 

 leaves ; polysymmetric and generally pentamerous_/f(?i£'f/'j^ .■ sepals 

 united, usually 5, the odd one being posterior, occasionally 4, 8, 

 or 10; petals 5, perigynous ; and stamens indefinite. In the 

 number of the eaipels, their cohesion, and still more their 

 adhesion, and in the forms of fruit resulting frprn their fertilisation, 

 the members of the Order present great diversity ; so that, 

 natural as is the Order as a whole, it is subdivided, as natuially, 

 into seven tribes. The Pruneec are trees and shrubs of the 

 North Temperate Zone, the bark of which often e.vudes a some- 

 what insoluble gum ; the leaves are smnple and, with the seeds, 

 generally )-ield a considerable, quantity oL the deadly poison, 

 prussic or hydroc5'anic acid ; and the fruit is a drupe or stone- 

 fruit, consisting, that is, of one carpel willf a skin or epicarp, 

 flesh or mesocarp, stone or endocarp, and containing one kernel 



