v ii. p. 311. — Don's Gen Syst. of Gavd. and Bot. v. ii. p. 276 — Ornithopus 
ebractedtus, Biot. FI. Lus. v. ii. p. 159. — I.oisel. FI. Gall. v. ii. p. 164. t. 13. — 
O. lavigutus, Sm. in Rees’ Cycl., N°. 6. — O. extipuldtus, Thore, Chi. Land. p. 
311. — O. nudifldrus. Lag. Varied. Esp. v. ii. p. 40. — O. durus, De Cand. FI. Fr. 
v. iv. p. 603. N. 4039,, but not of Cavanilles. — O. pygmce'us, Vie. — Daleeli. Hist, 
v. i. p. 487. f. 1 • — Ornitkopodium minimum oXiyouipaTOV Moris. Hist. Oxon. 
v. ii. p. 125. sett. 2. t. 10. f. Ill— Ornithopodium glabrum Ji. luteo , Sherar- 
dian .Herbarium. 
Localities. — On sandy ground near Grand Havre, in the Island of Guernsey . — 
On the sea slope of Essex Castle Hill, and on the south coast near Chaise a l’Emauve, 
Alderney ; C. C. Babington, Esq. — In the Scilly Isles : Miss Young, in Hook. 
Brit. FI. 
Annual. — Flowers in July and August. 
Root slender, branched, fibrous, usually furnished with small 
tubercles. Stems several, ascending or decumbent, from 3 to 6 or 8 in- 
ches long, slender, simple, cylindrical, striated, leafy, smooth, some- 
times zigzag. Leaves alternate, all pinnated; leaflets opposite, 
from 3 to 5 pairs, or more, with an odd terminal one, elliptic- 
oblong, or somewhat inversely egg-shaped, pointed, smooth on the 
upper side ; the under side, as well as the petiole, clothed with a 
few scattered, white hairs ; the lower pair of leaflets remote from 
the stem. Stipulas very minute. Peduncles ( flower- stalks J about 
equal in length to the leaves, axillary, thread-shaped, slender, slight- 
ly hairy. Flowers yellow, from 1 to 3 together at the summit of 
the peduncle, and without any bractea. Calyx slender, tubular, 
5-toothed, smooth. Corolla very small, about half as long again 
as the calyx. Legumes (fig. 4.) from about three quarters of an 
inch to an inch long, more or less curved, slender, cylindrical, so 
even that the joints are hardly discernible, its surface minutely 
reticulated, without hairs or downiness. Seeds small, one in each 
joint. 
This curious little plant, which appears to have been unknown to 
LinNjEUS, is a native of Portugal, Spain, the South of France, and 
Italy, in sandy and gravelly places. It was, I believe, first pub- 
lished as a native of Britain, by Sir W. J. Hooker, in 1838, in the 
4th edition of his excellent “ British Flora,” on the authority of 
Mr. Babington and Mr. Christy, who, a short time previous to 
the publication of that work, had found it in a wild state in the 
Islands of Guernsey and Alderney. The late Sir J. E. Smith, 
in his account of this plant in Rees’ Cyclopaedia, says it was 
“ gathered by the Abbe Durand at Gibraltar;” and that he had 
“ received it from Jaquin’s Herbarium for Ornithopus perpusillus, 
with which many Botanists seemed to have confounded it ; yet,” 
continues Sir James, “ the plants are totally distinct.” That this is 
the case, will be really seen by comparing the above description 
with that of Ornithopus perpusillus, at folio 358, of this work. 
The drawing for the accompanying plate was made from a 
specimen gathered by Mr. Christy, in Guernsey, in 1837, and 
kindly lent to me from the Herbarium of the Botanical Society of 
London. 
