Bot. p. 69. — Purt. Midi. FI. y,i. p. 340. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 213. — Grev. FI. Edin. 
p. 156. — FI. Devon, pp. 120 & 174 — Jolmst. FI. of Berw. v. i. p. 159. — Winch’s 
FI. of Northumb. and Durh. p. 47. — Walker’s FI. of Oxf. p. 206. — Loud. Encycl. 
of Gavd. (new ed, 1835.) p. 882. paragr. 4708. — Bab. FI. Bath. p. 14. ; Suppl. p. 
75. — Dick. FI. Abred. p. 48. — Irv. Lond. FI. p. 175. — Luxf. Reig. FI. p. 63. — Cow. 
FI. Guide, p. 40. — Baines’ FI. of Yorksh. p. 33. — Leight. FI. of Shropsh. p. 351. — 
Mack. Catal. of PI. of Irel. p. 66. ; FI. Hibern. p. 84. — Orobus sylvaticus, foliis 
oblongis glabris, Ray’s Syn. p. 324. — Astragalus sylvaticus, Johns. Gerarde, 
p. 1237. — Sibb. Scot, lllust. pt. u, p. 11. t. 1. 
Localities. — In mountainous pastures, thickets, and woods ; frequent. 
Perennial. — Flowers in May and June. 
Root somewhat creeping, externally blackish, with oblong tu- 
bers. Stem about a foot high, sometimes decumbent, but usually 
upright, simple, slender, smooth, leafy, with 3 or 4 angles, the two 
opposite angles winged. Leaves alternate, winged, their common 
foot-stalk (petiole) projecting beyond the leaflets into a bristle- 
shaped appendage ; leaflets from 2 to 3 pairs, elliptic-oblong, oppo- 
site, sessile, entire, smooth, with a sharp point, and 3 longitudinal 
ribs. Stipulas half-arrow-shaped, usually more or less toothed at 
the base, sometimes entire. Peduncles axillary, about as long as 
the leaves, few-flowered ; each flower on a short, slender pedicel. 
Calyx (fig. 1 .) tubular, smooth, purplish, blunt at the base, irregu- 
larly 5-toothed, lower tooth the longest, two upper teeth shortest. 
Corolla (fig. 2.) elegantly variegated and veined, with purple, crim- 
son, and shades of blue and flesh-colour, changing to blue as it 
fades. Legume (fig. 8.) pendulous, long, cylindrical, black when 
ripe. Seeds globose, a little compressed, of a yellowish-brown 
colour. It sometimes varies with narrow strap-shaped leaflets, and 
it then constitutes Orobus angustifolius of Roth’s Tentamen Florae 
Germanicce, v. i. p. 305 ; and of D. Don, in The Memoirs of the 
Wernerian Natural History Society, v. iii. p. 301. 
This species of Orobus is a native of almost every part of Europe, 
in woods, and among bushes. In the Highlands of Scotland it is 
called Corr or Cor-Meille, and the Highlanders have a great esteem 
for the tubercles of the roots (see fig. 10), which they dry and chew, 
as our people do tobacco, to give a better relish to their liquor. 
They also affirm them to be good against most disorders of the 
chest, and that by the use of them they are enabled to repel hunger 
and thirst for a long time. In Breadalbane and Ross-shire they 
sometimes bruise and steep them in water, and make an agreeable 
fermented liquor with them. They have a sweet taste, something 
like the roots of liquorice, and when boiled are savoury and nutri- 
tious ; ground to powder they may be made into bread. In Holland 
and Flanders they are roasted and eaten in the' same manner as 
chesnuts. This plant is supposed to be the Chara named in 
C/esar’s Commentaries, De Bell. Cib. iii. 40., the root of which, 
steeped in milk, was such a relief to the famished army at the siege 
of Dyrrachium. It is also believed to have been the Caledonian 
food described by Dio, on which, mixed with milk, the soldiers of 
Valerius’ army subsisted under a penury of bread. 
Horses, cows, goats, and sheep, will eat the plant. — The tubers of Lathyrus 
tuberosus (Bot. Mag. t. 111.), an exotic plant, are said to possess the same pro- 
perties as those of the Orobus, and instructions for the cultivation of them may be 
seen in the 2nd volume of the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, 
p. 359.; and in Mr. Loudon’s Encyclopoedia of Gardening, (new edit. ) p. 882. 
paragr. 4708. 
