144 
25. LEGUMIXOSiE. 
very obscurely denticulate at top. Stip. broad ovate large and 
conspicuous, their filmy white or pale lower half streaked longi- 
tudinally with dark purple, the upper half gr. herbaceous. FI. 2- 
5, in oblong or obversely pyramidal heads, remarkably long and 
slender; cor. rather large much exceeding the cal. white i. e. 
very pale lemon or cream-colour, sometimes tinged with very 
pale rose, the standard faintly streaked with pale pink or purple. 
Tube of cal. long slender smooth pale lemon-gr. below, bright 
reddish or purple upwards, the red in streaks or close-set striae ; 
the long hairy softly setaceous or liliform teeth bright gr., nearly 
equal, and as long as the tube ; the throat open naked. FI. at 
first close and erect, but soon spreading and deflexed, discover- 
ing in their centre a small conical knob composed of close-pressed 
fleshy gr. points (abortive fl.). These when the ped. become de- 
flexed in fr., become themselves deflexed and starry at the tips, 
increasing in size and rigidity, forming a kind of white fleshy 
coma closely embracing the fr. of the lower (now uppermost) 
fertile fl., which they Anally bury and root firmly in the soil 
an in. or more beneath the surface, when the whole head as- 
sumes a globose shape. By the time this rooting coma has 
forced itself down into and taken firm hold of the soil, the seeds 
of the originally lower (now uppermost) 3 or 4 fertile fl. are 
found ripe, one large orbicular dark brown or black and shining 
in each smooth compressed orbicular pod, which is coated by 
the now inflated cal. -tube splitting longitudinally, and all closely 
embraced by the stiff 1 fleshy white root-like transformed abortive 
fl. forming the coma. 
III. Vesicaria L. ( Vesicastrum Ser. in DC.) ; throat or upper 
lip of cal. after fl. inflated vaulted and bladdery, simple 
and naked within. — Herbage nearly or quite smooth. Fl. 
bractleted, the lowest bractlets forming an involucre. 
12. T. FRAGIFERUM L. Strawberry Trefoil. 
Nearly smooth cespitose full gr. ; st. creeping stoloniferous ; lfts. 
obovate or obcordate closely and elegantly nervoso-striate finely 
and sharply serrulate ; ped. axillary considerably longer than the 
l. ; heads in fl. large hemispherical, bractlets of lowest ring of Jl. 
forming a distinct many-cleft involucre equalling the cal. of lowest 
fl. ; Jl. all nearly or quite sessile ; heads in fr. large compactly glo- 
bose velvety , upper part of cal. inflated globose bullate scarious re- 
ticulated velvety all over , the 2 upper teetli setaceous equal sub- 
inconspienous shorter than the prominent conspicuous permanent 
cor. — FIB. t. 1050 (bad) ; Brot. ii. 100 ; 1 1. Fl. Sc. i. 210 ; Sm. E. 
FLiii. 808; DO. u. 2(fej Spr. iii. 217; Koch 180; Bab. 78.— 
Herb. per. Mad. reg. 1, cc. Dry sunny slopes near the sea; P ta 
S. Louren^o, at the bottom of Labra crossing over to the N. side 
in the narrowest part, and at the l'iedudc below the fossil-bed 
