l8 MR. A. BENNETT ON MEDICAGO SYLVESTRIS, M. FALCATA, 
Norfolk W. 28. 
Snettisham. Crowe in Smith FI. Brit. 2 (1800), 459. 
Wardale sp. 1844. 
Fring. Trimmer l.c. W. Newton. Dr. Lowe ex Mr. 
Nicholson. 
Abundant on Santon Warren (1880). A. Bennett. Croxton 
(1889). H. D. Geldart ex Miss Geldart. In his FI. of 
Norfolk the Rev. K. Trimmer localises this species from 
“ Sandy cornfields.” I suspect this means the var. biennis of 
S. annuus : as I have never seen perennis in a cornfield. On 
Santon Warren and Icklingham Plains, where I have seen it 
in plenty, there is no sign of cultivation; and near Lakenheath 
it grows on a heath with Medicago sylvestris and minima, 
Silene otites, & c., which certainly has never been broken up. 
Now to enumerate the four species : — 
Medicago sylvestris, Fries, in Mant. iii. (1842), 92. 
Fries here describes this plant as M. silvestris, and quotes 
“ Eng. Botany t. 1016 ! ” In the 3 ed. the plate is 336. This 
was retained by Syme as a representation of M. falcata ; as 
the ripe pod of the original edition was that of sylvestris. he 
therefore added pods of the falcata. 
Fries denies it being a hybrid, as some have supposed 
(i.e. sativa x falcata) saying; “ Hybrida absolute non est ! ” 
Watson* calls M. falcata “ a denizen,” but on writing to 
him describing its mode of growth, place, surroundings, &c., 
he wrote : “ From what you tell me I should now say the two 
plants were native in Suffolk and Norfolk.” Mr. Borrer also 
wrote :f “ I should not doubt it being a native of the Norfolk 
and Suffolk sands.” Babington (as “ M . falcata ft sylvestris ”) 
in Bot. Gazette (1849) remarks : “ Fries refers the fig. in 
E. Bot. to his M. sylvestris on the authority of authentic 
specimens, but it represents his falcata with a ripe pod of 
sylvestris added. Sir J. Smith in common with all other 
botanists up to that date, having confounded the two 
plants under one name ; it is not improbable he may have 
sent M. sylvestris to Fries with the name of M. falcata.” 
* Cyb. Brit. i. (1847), 284. f Bot. Gazette, ii. (1850), 94. 
