Vicia.] XXV. PAPILIONACE.E. 123 



In dry, stony, waste, or cultivated places, in central and southern 

 Europe to the Caucasus, not extending into northern Germany. In 

 Britain, chiefly near the sea in southern England, and again on the 

 rocky coasts of eastern Scotland. Not recorded from Ireland. Fl. 

 early summer. 



8. V. sativa, Linn. (fig. 285). Common V. — An annual or biennial, 

 glabrous or hairy ; the stems short and spreading, or nearly erect, or 

 almost climbing, 1 to 2 feet high. Stipules toothed, and usually 

 marked by a dark spot in the centre. Leaflets usually 4 to 7 pairs to 

 each leaf, varying from obcordate to obovate to narrow-linear, the 

 tendrils usually branched. Flowers sessile and solitary, or rarely 2 

 together in the axils of the leaves, usually large, of a reddish or bluish 

 purple. Pod glabrous, 1 to 2 inches long, rather narrow, with 10 to 12 

 smooth, globular seeds. 



In dry pastures, open woods, and waste places, throughout Europe 

 and Kussian Asia, and having been long cultivated for forage, is now 

 widely spread over the temperate regions of the globe. Fl. spring and 

 early summer. In the cultivated state the stems are 1 to 2 feet high, 

 the leaflets usually broad, and the flowers large ; in the more common 

 wild form, often distinguished as V. angustifolia, Linn., the leaflets are 

 narrower, the flowers rather smaller and pod shorter ; and the low 

 spreading variety, V. Bobartii, Forst., is only to be distinguished from 

 V. lathyroides by the smooth seeds, and somewhat larger flowers 

 and pods. 



9. V. lathyroides, Linn. (fig. 286). Spring V. — A low spreading 

 annual or biennial, glabrous or nearly so ; the stems branching at the 

 base, seldom 6 inches long ; the foliage, solitary flower, and general 

 appearance those of the smaller specimens of V. sativa, the flowers are, 

 however, smaller, usually of a richer purple, the calyx less decidedly 

 oblique at the base, and the pods seldom an inch long. The seeds are 

 also rough with raised dots, a distinction believed to be constant. 



In dry pastures, open woods, banks, &c, over the whole of Europe, 

 except the extreme north, extending eastward to the Caucasus. Not 

 uncommon in England and Scotland, very rare in Ireland. FL spring. 



10. V. bithynica, Linn. (fig. 287). Bithynian V. — A glabrous or 

 slightly downy annual, with weak angular stems, 1 to 2 feet long. 

 Leaves more like those of a Lathyrus than of a Vicia, having usually 

 only 2 pair of leaflets, obovate in the lowest leaves, oblong or 

 lanceolate, and above an inch long in the others, the tendrils branched. 

 Stipules rather broad and toothed. Flowers solitary or 2 together, 

 on peduncles sometimes very short, sometimes half as long as the 

 leaves, rather large, of a bluish-purple with very pale wings, and 

 shaped like those of V. sativa. Style with a tuft of hairs under the 

 stigma on the outer side. Pod 1 to 1^ inches long about 4 lines 

 broad, usually more or less hairy. Seeds 4 to 6. 



In bushy or stony waste places, chiefly near the sea, but spreading 

 inland as a cornfield weed, in southern Europe to the Caucasus, ex- 

 tending up western France to Bordeaux, and reappearing in various 

 counties of England, but not in Scotland or Ireland. Fl. Summer 



