Ononis.] leguminoSjE. 113 



mooiy piece of land close to Pagham, called, I believe, Burton Hill. Between 

 Mount Misery and Smalli^ains Healh, plentiful, G. Kirhpulrich, Esq. ! Woot- 

 ton common ? Mr. Lawrence. 



W. Med. — On heathy ground on the N. side of Parkhurst forest. Field by 

 Albany barracks, Newport. Near Cowes. New White-house farm. Miss G. 

 Kilderbee. Near Colwell barracks, B. T. W. 



A humble prickly shrub, of straggling growth. Root extremely tough and 

 woody, pale brown externally, much branched and contorted, running lar and 

 wide beneath the surface, and ending in numerous long, flexile, diffuse and 

 decumbent or prostrate, woody stems, which are rounded, bare and nearly simple 

 below, variously and irregularly branched towards their mostly ascending extre- 

 mities, the short ultimate divisions of»which are spreading, divaricate or curved 

 upwards, uneven and beset with slender, pungent, straight or slightly recurved 

 spines (abortive branches), from i to -^ an inch or more in length, wanting on the 

 annual or flowering shoots and on the lower parts of the stem and larger branches. 

 Leaves confined entirely to the short lateral and terminal shoots of the current and 

 foregoing year, alternate or scattered, often with a fascicle of smaller leaves in 

 theii' axils, surrounding a nascent spine, very shortly stalked or almost sessile, the 

 petiole with a few hairs ; about J ol an inch long, dull grayish green, glabrous 

 and somewhat fleshy, flat and spreading, elliptic-lanceolate, acute and apiculate, 

 becoming broader or more ovate as they approach the flowers, at length beneath 

 the latter broadly elliptical or obovate. Stipules none. Flowers solitary and axil- 

 lary, about ^ of an inch long. Pedicels lax, shorter than the leaves, having about 

 the middle a pair of minute, opposite or alternate, subulate, hairy bracts with 

 tumid gland-like bases. Calyx very short, 5-uerved, 2-lipped, fringed along the 

 margins, otherwise glabrous ; upper lip shorter than the lower, in 2 deep, ellip- 

 tic-oblong, diverging spgments ; lower lip trifid, segments lanceolate, acute or 

 acuminate, slightly sinuate, the sinuses of both lips and their segments acute or 

 very slightly rounded only. Corolla of an uniform bright yellow without mark- 

 ings of any kind; standard obovato-elliplical, slightly pointed, minutely emargi- 

 nate, reflexed and revolute, with a very short claw. Style long, glabrous, com- 

 pressed, not channelled, ascending below, ihen nearly erect, curved. Legumes 

 scarcely above \ an inch in length, yellowish green or brownish, very hard and 

 smooth, oblong, cylindrical and obtuse, tipped with the pungent incurved base of 

 the style. Seeds about 10 or 12, pendulous from the superior commissure, small, 

 roundish and dimpled, very smooth, black and shining, seldom all perfected.* 



This species possesses perhaps sufficient attractions in its flowers to make it 

 desirable for cultivation, were it not for its straggling unsightly mode of growth, 

 and long, bare, prickly branches, which look as if quite dried up. Indeed, the 

 duration of these is probably limited to three years at furthest, and the rjut, ii is 

 likely, does not survive much longer. 



B. Stems herbaceous. 



IV. Ononis, Linn. Eest-liarrow. 



" Calyx campanulate, 5-cleft, its segments linear. Standard 

 large, striated. Keel rostrate. Legume turgid, sessile, few-seeded. 

 — Leaves simple or trifoliolate." — Br. Fl. 



1. O. ar-vensis, L. Common Best-harrow. Cammock. " Shrub- 

 by, branches hairy often spinous, lower leaves ternate, the rest 

 simple oblong or oval serrated except at the base, flowers soli- 

 tary shortly stalked, caljTc much shorter than the corolla, legume 



* The seeds are frequently destroyed in the pod by a little beetle peculiar to 

 this species, the Apion Genislce. 



