136 LKGDMiNOS^. { Hippocrepis . 



sides are equal. — Flowers capitate ; peduncles bearing a leaf at 

 their apex." — Br. Fl. 



1. O. perpusillus, L. Common Bird' s-foot. " Leaves pinnate 

 with 6 — 9 pairs of leaflets and a terminal one, peduncles longer 

 than the leaves, flowers nearly sessile, legumes curved upwards 

 with a beak scarcely longer than the upper joint." — Br. Fl. p. 

 107. E. B. t. 369. 



On dry sandy, chalky or gravelly banks, pastures and waste ground ; not at all 

 uncommon. Ft. May — July. Fr. June. 0. 



Root white, tapering, sending out in the larger specimens innumerahle pro- 

 cumbent, rounded and slightly hairy stems, spreading on the ground in all direc- 

 tions, from a few inches to upwards of a foot in length. Leaves impari-pinnate, of 

 numerous ovato-obtuse hairy leaflets, 'about J of an inch long, and so shortly 

 stalked as to appear sessile. Flowers in little beads or clusters, of about 5 or 6 

 together, small, whitish, the standard beautifully pencilled with purple striae. 

 Calyx hairy, tubular, with a slight articulation near the base, the 3 lower seg- 

 ments linear, nearly equal, the 1 upper broader. Keel small, greenish yellow, 

 obtuse. Legumes clustered, erect, whitish brown or purplish, about an inch in 

 length by 1 line in breadth, more or less arcuate, and covered with fine spreading 

 pubescence, 2-edged and much compressed, reticulated with prominent longitudi- 

 nal anastomosing veins, and composed of elliptical joints, of which the terminal 

 one is prolonged into a beak tipped with an incurved mucro. Seeds, — one in 

 each joint, yellowish or greenish, ovato-oblong or somewhat orbicular, compressed 

 and glabrous, the surface a little uneven. 



The legumes taken in the aggregate bear a striking resemblance to the claws 

 of a small bird ; separately regarded, their likeness is still more remarkable to the 

 tail of a Sicoi'pion armed with its aculeus or sting. 



XVI. HipPOCEEPis, Linn. Horse-shoe Vetch. 



Calyx eampanulate. Keel about as long as the wings, acumi- 

 nate. Legume compressed, submembranaceous, of numerous 

 joints, which are ctirved like a horse-shoe, so that each legume 

 has many notches on one side.— Flowers umbellate, axillary and 

 nearly sessile. 



1. H. comosa, L. Common Horse-shoe Vetch. " Caespitose, 

 perennial, peduncles longer than the leaves, flowers 5 — 8 umbel- 

 late, legumes curved scabrous with scabrous joints and semicircu- 

 lar notches." — JBr. Fl. p. 108. E. B. t. 31. Jacg. Fl. Aust. v. 

 14, t. 431. 



On dry chalky banks, downs, cliffs and short pasture-ground ; abundant in most 

 of the hilly calcareous districts of the island. Fl. May — July. Fr. July, 

 August, if.. 



E. Med. — Abundant on all the chalky declivities facing the sea at Ventnor and 

 other parts of the Undercliff, which it enlivens during summer with its bright yel- 

 low blossoms. In most luxuriant tufte half way up the cliff between Sandown 

 fort and Culver, marking pretty nearly the spot where Medicago denticulata grows 

 at the foot. Plentiful on sloping banks on Bembridge down. 



W. Med. — On the down above Plumbley's (new) hotel. Freshwater Gate. In 

 the planted hollow below the temple at Swainston. About Carisbrooke Castle, 

 and on all the chalky downs, B. T. W. 



This and the other species of the genus have much the habit of Coronilla, a 

 genus not yet with certainty detected in Britain. 



