296 



L EGUMINOSiE. 



a woody often branched caudex; pubescence silky and appressed; 

 leaves palmately compound; leaflets 5, orbieular-obovate and cuneate 

 at base, 7 or 8 lines long; stipules scarious, lanceolate; racemes shorter 

 than the leaves, dense, rather less than 1 in. long, on short peduncles; 

 calyx silky-villous, 6 lines long, the linear-acuminate lobes a little 

 exceeding the petals; pod oblong, narrowed to a lanceolate beak, 

 thin-walled, villous; seed dark brown, 2 lines long or more. 



A rare plant: summit of Mt. Diablo (the only known locality 

 within our limits); headwaters of the Salinas, Palmer. May-July. 



8. VICIA L. Vetch. Tare. 

 Annual or perennial herbs with weak angular stems, often slightly 

 climbing. Leaves pinnate, with several to many leaflets and semi- 

 sagittate stipules, the rachis ending in a simple or branched tendril. 

 Peduncles axillary. Flowers solitary or racemose. Calyx 5-toothed, 

 the 3 lower teeth often longer. Banner oblong, or appearing so by 

 the turning back of the edges; wings united to the middle of the 

 keel. Stamens more or less diadelphous. Style filiform with a tuft 

 of hairs below the stigma all around or sometimes only on the back. 

 Pod flat, 2-valved, 2 to several-seeded. Seeds globose, the funiculus 

 expanded above to cover the hilum, thus arillate. Cotyledons 

 remaining under ground in germination. (Classical Latin name.) 



Annuals; flowers few. 



Flowers subsessile, 1 or 2 in the axils 1. V. satira. 



Feduncles elongated, }4 to 1% in. long, 1 or 2-flowered . . 2. V. exigua. 

 Perennials; peduncles elongated, several-flowered. 



Leaflets 8 to 12; peduncles 4 to 8-flowered 3. # V. Americana. 



Leaflets 20 to 30; peduncles 7 to 18-flowered 4.' V. gigantta. 



1. V. sativa L. Common Vetch. Tare. Stems slender, 2 ft. 

 high; leaflets 6 to 12J glabrous, or the margins slightly ciliate, oblong 

 or narrower, truncate or retuse, mucronate, § to over 1 in. long; 

 stipules small, toothed; flowers solitary or geminate, nearly sessile, 

 the pedicels 1 line long at most; corolla 8 lines long, little longer 

 than the calyx; banner purple, wings red; calyx-teeth subulate- 

 setaceous, exceeding the tube. 



Naturalized from the Old World: Santa Cruz, Anderson, 1878; 

 Berkeley; Napa Valley, 1893; Sonoma, Brewer, 1862. 



2. V. exigua Nutt. California Vetch. Very slender, 1 to 2 

 ft. high; leaflets 4 to 12, oblong to narrowly linear, acute or obtusish; 

 peduncles filiform, shorter than the leaves, £ to 2 in. long, 1 or 

 2-flowered; flowers 2 or 3 lines long, white or purplish; pods glabrous, 

 4 or 5-seeded. 



Stony or sandy soil: Tracy; San Mateo Co.; more common in 

 Southern California. Apr. 



Var. Hassei (V. Hassei Wats.). Stouter; leaflets deeply notched 

 at apex, the notch mucronate; pod 5 to 8 or sometimes only 3-seeded. 

 — Benicia, Bigelow, the upper leaves not notched; Livermore; to 

 Southern California. Not common within our limits. 



3. V. Americana Muhl. Nearly glabrous; stems 2 to 3 ft. long, 



