PAPILIONACEiE. 



217 



beak, and separating into several linear 

 articles. 



In sandy situations, near the sea, 

 chiefly in south-western Europe, extend- 

 ing nearly all round the Mediterranean, 

 and northward, up western France to 

 the Channel Islands, and to the Scilly 

 Isles off the coast of Cornwall. Fl. 

 spring, and often again towards autumn. 



Fig. 269. 



XIY. BIRDS-FOOT, ORNITHOPUS. 



Slender, spreading, hairy annuals, with pinnate leaves and axillary 

 peduncles, bearing a head, or umbel, of very few small, pink or white 

 flowers, with a pinnate leaf at their base. Stamens diadelphous, the 

 upper one quite free. Pod narrow, much longer than the calyx, slightly 

 flattened, separating, when ripe, into several one-seeded articles. 



A genus of very few, chiefly South European, species, only differing 

 from Coronilla by the slightly flattened pod, and by the leaf on the 

 peduncle, under the flowers. 



1. Common Bird's-foot. Ornithopus perpusillus, Linn. 

 (Fig. 270.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 369.) 



Stems spreading on the ground, or slightly ascending, to the length 

 of 6 or 8 inches. Leaflets 5 to 10 pairs, with an odd one, or some- 

 times more, small, oval or oblong, and softly hairy, the lowest pair 

 close to the stem. Flowers usually 2 or 3 only on the peduncle, 

 closely sessile over a small, pinnate leaf; the keel short and obtuse. 



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