Zathyrus.] leguminos^. 131 



W. Med. — Cornfields near W. Cowes. [Near Brighstone, A. G. More, Esq., 

 Edrs.] 



V. gracilis is distinRuished from the preceding species (F. telrasperma) by its 

 larger size and somewhat glaucous hue ; by its flowers, twice the size of the for- 

 mer, and of which the standard is an uniform lilac or rose-colour, scarcely streaked 

 with darker lines as in that ; by the much longer, sharply acuminate and narrower 

 leaflets, which seldom exceed 3 pair, and stand erect on the petiole ; by the much 

 longer peduncles, especially the upper ones, which considerably exceed the leaves 

 in length, and are from 1- to 6- or 7-flowered ; and by the legume, which has 

 rarely fewer than 6 seeds. It diflfers moreoTcr in always having simple tendrils, 

 whilst those of V. tetrasperma are commonly though not invariably branched, and 

 by the frequent termination of the peduncle in a straight awn-like point (abortive 

 flower ?), also observed occasionally in V. tetrasperma. The most marked of these 

 distinctions are the greater size of the plant and its flowers, the singularly erect 

 leaflets, more numerous seeds, and very long peduncles, and these are so con- 

 stantly united as to justify its re-establishment as a species, although the opinions 

 of vei'y able botanists are opposed to this. The remaining characters are certainly 

 more variable, and are exhibited in gradation by either plant ; but I would ask, 

 may not the intermediate forms be hybrid productions, as the two plants are very 

 commonly found together ? But our V. gracilis is more a plant of cornfields and 

 waste ground than of woods and hedgerows, and where we first observed it did 

 not stray from the corn, amongst which it was growing abundantly, to mix with 

 the ordinary V. tetrasperma, which occupied in as great profusion the grassy bor- 

 ders of the same field. 



Brotero says of our V. gracilis, " semina in germine 5 ad 7, fertilia 3, 4, 6, raris- 

 sime 6," but his plate shows only 4 seeds in the pod ; in this island they are usu- 

 ally 6, less frequently only 5, smaller than those of V. tetrasperma, globular, dark 

 reddish brown obscurely mottled with black, the hilum very short, scarcely longer 

 than broad, on which rather slender character Koch lays great stress, retaining it 

 as a species in his new edition of Rohling's ' Deutschland's Flora.' In V. tetra- 

 sperma the hilum is always much elongated compared with its breadth. Speci- 

 mens perfectly agreeing with ours are in the Smithian herbarium from Gibraltar 

 and Tangier, which the possessor at that time appears from a pencil note to have 

 thought a new species, and called E. polyspermum. In the same herbarium is a 

 specimen intermediate between our V. gracilis and the ordinary V. tetrasperma 

 gathered by Mr. Woodward many years ago in Cambridgeshire, and noticed in 

 E. B. ; but this I have given reasons for supposing may be a hybrid, and am 

 strongly disposed to consider our V. gracilis to be a good species, an opinion in 

 which I am glad to find my friend the Rev. G. E. Smith coincide, who on first 

 seeing the plant was forcibly struck by its aspect and characters.* It appears to 

 be not uncommon in the S. and middle of Europe, about Paris, on the Rhine, in 

 the Netherlands and Portugal, where Brotero says it aflbrds a grateful food to cat- 

 tle, and hence might perhaps be advantageously grown as a green crop in our own 

 country. 



XIII. Lathyeus, Linn. 



" Calyx with its mouth oblique, its upper segments shortest. 

 Style plane, broader upwards, downy on the upper side. — Leaves 

 with tendrils, or the petiole without leaflets.'" — Br. Fl. 



* [In the ' Phytologist' (iii. 281) we find from Dr. Bromfield's pen the follow- 

 ing remark :— " I am still more than half inclined to regard it (V. gracilis) as a 

 mere variety of the last (F. telrasperma), finding most of its characters prone to 

 variation, but in deference to the opinions of others I here keep it distinct." It 

 is believed that this latter remark was penned at a later date than the text above. 

 —Edrs.'] 



