PEA AND BEAN TRIBE 73 



Thickets, or on gravelly or chalky soil; uncommon. — Fl. June, 

 July. Perennial. 



2. A. daniciis (Purple Milk Vetch). — Stem prostrate, only a few 

 inches long ; flower-stalks longer than the leaves ; legumes erect, 

 hairy ; flowers purplish (sometimes white), in short spikes. Chalky 

 and gravelly places.^Fl. June, July. Perennial. 



3. A. Alpinits^ (Alpine Milk Vetch).— Sfcws branching, prostrate ; 

 leaflets S-12 pairs, with a terminal odd one ; flowers drooping, 

 bluish or white, tipped with purple ; legumes pendulous, clothed 

 with black hairs. Mountainous pastures, Perthshire, Bracmar, 

 and Clova in Scotland ; rare. — Fl. July. Ferennial. 



13. ViciA (Vetch) 



1. T'. hirsida (Hairy Vetch, or Tare). — 

 A slender, much-branched plant, forming 

 tangled masses of stems and leaves ; 

 leaves consisting of 6-8 pairs of leaflets ; 

 flowers about 6 together, minute and 

 bluish white ; legumes hairy, 2-seeded. 

 This, though a mischievous weed, is not 

 the Tare of the Holy Scriptures, which is 

 supposed to be the Darnel [Lolium temu- Vicia hirsuta (Hairy 

 lentiim). Fields and hedges ; very com- Vetch, or Tare) 

 mon. — Fl. all summer. Annual. 



2. V. lelrasperma (Slender Vetch). — Floi&ers 1-7 together, on a 

 slender stalk, light purple ; legumes smooth, usually 4-seeded ; 

 whole plant much slenderer and less branched than the last. Found 

 in similar situations, but less common. — Fl. all summer. Annual. 



3. V. gracilis (Slender Vetch), is by some botanists considered a 

 distinct species, others make it a variety of the last. The flowers 

 grow 1-4 together, and are larger than in T'. tetrasperma ; legumes 

 6-8-seeded, Found in the south of England. — Fl. all summer. 

 Annual. 



4. V. cracca (Tufted Vetch). — Leaflets in about lo pairs, narrow, 

 pointed, silky, with tendrils ; stipides half arrow-shaped, scarcely 

 toothed ; flowers crowded in one-sided spikes. One of the most 

 ornamental of British plants, climbing along the tops of hedges, 

 and adorning them with its slender spikes of^blue and purple flowers. 

 Bushy places ; frequent. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



5. V. sylvatica (Wood Vetch). — Leaflets in about 8 pairs, ellip- 

 tical, abrupt, with a short point ; stipules crescent-shaped, deeply 

 toothed at the base ; legume an inch long, smooth, 4-6-seeded. 

 A large and beautiful species, with a long stem 3-6 feet high, 

 climbing by means of its branched tendrils. Flowers numerous, in 



