Vicia.] LEGUMIKOSiE. 129 



attached to it a few fleshy tubercles. Stems several, branched, straggling, 

 ascending or procumbent, from about 2 or 3 to 8 or 10 inches long, slightly hairy, 

 acutely quadrangular, with the 2 opposite angles very prominent or almost winged. 

 Lower leaves mostly with 1, upper with 2 or 3 (rarely 5, Koch) pairs of leaflets, 

 their common petioles ending in a simple tendril, which in the lowermost leaves 

 is reduced to a straight point, in the higher moderately long and curling ; leaflets 

 nearly sessile, finely downy on both sides, those of the lowermost leaves cuneate, 

 obovate or obcordate, retuse, apiculale ; of the superior leaves elliptical, obtuse or 

 truncate, raucronulate (sometimes linear and pointed, Koch). Stipules small, 

 semisagittate, acute. Flowers axillary (always I believe) solitary, though Koch 

 states they are sometimes in pairs, very shortly stalked so as to appear sessile, far 

 smaller even in the most luxuriant state of the plant than in V. sativa (about i of 

 an inch long), bluish purple. Calyx not at all gibbous at the base, hairy, the 

 segments nearly equal, subulate, fringed. Standard ovato-orbicular, purplish 

 pink or lilac, veined, emarginate, with a small apiculus, sharply keeled at the 

 back, with a deep corresponding fold in front ; wings coloured like the standard, 

 converging, nearly obovate, with an acute curved spur and pale slender claws ; 

 keel minute, almost helmet-shaped from the extremely rounded, obtuse and gib- 

 bons or inflated, violet-coloured apex of its two 2 petals, which cohere closely to 

 the end of their long pale claws. Stamens subdiadelphous, the 10th or uppermost 

 free about half its length ; filaments very short, thick, pellucid ; anthers roundish. 

 Style very thick, obliquely truncate in front, where it is bearded with a marginal 

 row of stiff erect hairs, otherwise glabrous; stigma flat, peltate, fringed with 

 glands. Legume brownish black, sublinear, 8 to 10 lines in length, compressed, 

 glabrous without, silky pubescent within, acuminate, the apex recurved. Seeds 

 about 7 to 10, greenish or yellowish, thickly dotted with flit, warty, blackish 

 points ; nearly cubical, with rounded angles, most conspicuously so when ripe ; 

 hilum at one of the corners, small, oval. 



My specimens from Boyal Heath, in this island, are extremely hairy, and agree 

 in this respect with beautiful specimens from Bungay, given rae by Mr. D. Stock. 

 Others collected by me at Weybridge, Suirey, are comparatively smooth. The 

 very small flowers will distinguish this plant from starved forms of V. saliva when 

 not in seed, though the present may approach that species in size of leaf and length 

 of stem. 



•»*» Peduncles elongated, few-flowered. Style equdlly pubescent all round. 

 Calyx equal at the base. Annual plants. Ervum. 



6. V. hirsuta, Koch. Hairy Tare. "Leaflets 6 — 8 pairs 

 linear-oblong truncated, peduncles 1 — 6 flowered, legumes oblong 

 S-seeded hniv j. " — Br. FL p. 111. Ervum, L. : E. B. t. 970. 

 Vicia Mitchellii, Raf. Ell. Sk. ii. p. 224. 



p. Peduncles 1 — 2 flowered, legumes glabrous. 



In woods, hedges and waste places ; frequent ; a still more common and often 

 troublesome weed in cornfields and other cultivated ground. Fl. May — August. 



Ii. Amongst the rocks at East End, sparingly, 1843. Isle of Wight, W. Bor- 

 rer, Esq., in Bab. Man. of Br. Bot. p. 78. 



7. V. tetrasperma, Moench. Smooth Tare. " Peduncles 2- 

 flowered, legumes glabrous 4-seeded, leaflets linear-oblong obtuse." 

 —Br. Fl. p. 111. Ervum, L. : E. B. t. 1223. 



In woods, thickets, hedges, borders of fields, and in waste and cultivated places, 

 cornfields, &c. ; very commonly. F I. Jane — August. 0. 



Herb of a pale grayish green. Root whitish, slender, of a few branching often 

 tuberculate fibres. Stetns 1 or more, slender, weak, and leaning on neighbourmg 

 plants for support, and clasping with its tendrils but not twining ; from about 1 



