226 



THE PEAFLOWER TRIBE., 



over the temperate regions of the globe. Fl. spring and early sum- 

 mer. 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 a species, under the name of V. anguslifolia 

 (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2614), the leaflets are narrower, and flowers rather 

 smaller ; and the low spreading variety, published as V. Bobartii 

 (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2708), is only to be distinguished from the spring 

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



9. Spring Vetch. 



Fig. 281. 



Vicia lathyroides, I^inn. (Fig. 281.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 30.) 



A low spreading annual or biennial, 

 glabrous or nearly so ; the stems branch- 

 ing at the base, seldom 6 inches long ; 

 the foliage, solitary flower, and gene- 

 ral appearance those of the smaller speci- 

 mens of the common V. ; the flowers are 

 however smaller, usually of a richer 

 purple, the calyx less decidedly oblique 

 at the base, and the pod seldom an inch 

 long. The seeds are also rough with 

 raised dots, a distinction believed to be 

 constant. 



In dry pastures, open woods, banks, 

 etc., over the whole of Europe, except 

 the extreme north, extending eastward 

 to the Caucasus. Not uncommon in 

 England, Ireland, and the greater part 

 of Scotland. Fl. spring. 



10. Bithynian Vetch. Vicia bithynica, Linn. (Eig. 282.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1842.) 



A glabrous or slightly downy annual, with weak angular stems, 1 to 

 2 feet long. Leaves more like those of a Pea than of a Vetch, having 

 usually only two pairs 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 two 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 



