MEDIC AGO. 
159 
directions from tlie centre or crown of the root ; the ends as- 
cending^ more stout and succulent than in most of the other 
Madeiran sp. Foliage or rather lfts. large and copious. L. on 
rather long stalks ; lfts. A— | in. long, in. or more broad, with 
shallow unequal teeth, sometimes entire ; the lower broadly 
obcordate. Stip. conspicuous, irregularly but deeply and re- 
markably cut and fringed. FI. small bright golden-y. ( flavus ) 
mostly in threes, upwards in lives or even more, rarely in fours. 
Pods always perfectly smooth, dark blackisli-brown^ diam. in- 
cluding spines 3-6 lines, axis 3-5, mostly in threes, often in 
twos, rarely in fours or fives together ; spines 1-2 lines long in 
a single row on each side the plain not thickened even edge or 
margin, radiant or standing out horizontally all round, rarely 
subdivergent, rather weak or soft and slender, quite smooth, 
channelled at the base. Sides or surface of the pods seldom 
reticulate never lacunose, but usually with somewhat strong 
curved simple rarely branched nerves or ribs radiating obliquely 
from the inner edge or central axis of the spire to the circum- 
ference, one to the base of each spine. Seeds large 1-2—2 lines 
long, half as broad, oblong not at all or only slightly reniform, 
scarcely notched at the hilum , fulvous or tawny-y. 
The description of 31. laiipaceci in Lam. Encycl. iii. 637 agrees 
precisely with the present pi. in all respects except in ascribing 
“ sometimes only 2 or 3 ” volutions to the pods, which are also 
said to be “ flattened and often a little concave at each end,” — 
expressions referring doubtless either to the tricy clous form or 
var. of the present pi. (not found in Madeira), or even possibly 
to some example of M. denticulata Willd. not then distinguished 
from the true lappacea. The same remark applies also to Bro- 
tero’s M. ciliaris. 
/3. brachyccintlia ; pods rather smaller harder or more compact 
mostly in pairs or single shortly cylindric flat and abruptly trun- 
cate at each end, spines crowded or numerous but very short 
stout and thickish, not longer than half the breadth of the pod, 
curved and divergent i. e. bent upwards and downwards parallel 
to the axis of the spire, or straight and radiant. — 31. Terebellum 
Willd. DC. ii. 176; Koch 181. 31. Sardoa Moris, “Inter sege- 
tes prope Pulam Sardinia?, Aprili ” U. S. Muller ! in HH. — Herb, 
ann. PS. reg. 3, r. Grassy slopes below the rocky summit of P. 
do Facho on the E. side descending towards the road or ridge 
between the Serra de Dentro and Serra de Fora. March-May. — 
Similar in every respect to a, except in the smaller shorter-spmed 
not bur-like pods in pairs instead of threes. Diam. of pods 3-4 
lines ; axis 2-3 lines ; spines line long. 
A mere var. or form of a, into which it passes through various 
