26 



WEEDS. 



pod of two valves, and one cell. Seeds one or more, 

 roundish. 



Essential character. — Calyx of two leaves, inferior. 

 Corolla: ringent, gibbous, and honey-bearing at the base, 

 each filament bearing three anthers. 



The " Common fumitory," or the " Fumaria officinahs," 

 flowers from April to August, and later, with very elegant 

 pink blossoms, variegated with spots of dark red, and of 

 green. Pericarps one-seeded, racemed. Stem diffuse ; it 

 is annual, but not reckoned a very troublesome weed, though 

 often very abundant on good soft loams. After being cut by 

 the hoe in the drills, the plants should be carried off the 

 field ; as in damp weather the roots again take hold, and the 

 seeds are perfected after the cultivated plants are full grown, 

 and the culture has ceased. This method of carrying away 

 the plants, apphes to many annual plants, wdiich are gen- 

 erally of a vivacious nature. 



20. The " Rest harrow," or the "Ononis" of botany, is 

 sometimes met with on tillage land, where it forms a weed of 

 a very troublesome nature. The plant belongs to the class 

 and order " Diadelphia decandria" of Linneus, and the na- 

 tuial order " Papilionacese" of Jussieu. 



Generic character. — Calyx : perianth five-leaved, almost 

 the length of the corolla; segments linear, acuminate, 

 slightly arched upwards, the lowest under the keel. Corolla : 

 papihonaceous. Banner cordate, striated, depressed at the 

 sides more than the other petals. Wings ovate, shorter by 

 half than the banner. Keel acuminate, as long as, or longer 

 than the wings. Stamina : filaments ten, connate in an en- 

 tire cylinder. Antherse simple. Pistil : germ oblong, villose ; 

 style simple, rising ; stigma blunt. Pericarp : legume 

 rhomb-shaped, turgid, sub-villose, one-celled, two-valved, 

 sessile. Seeds few^, kindney-form. 



Essential character. — - Calyx five-parted, with linear 

 segments ; banner striated ; legume turgid, sessile ; fila- 

 ments connate, without a fissure. 



There are thirty- eight species of this genus of plants, of 

 which only one" is found in Britain, and is called the com- 



