CXLL— LADY’S FINGERS. 
Anthyllis Vulneraria Linne. 
T he Tribe Lotea, which includes the two British genera Anthyllis and LotuSy 
though mostly herbaceous, has some members that attain the dimensions of 
shrubs. Their leaves may be pinnate or palmate and have four or more leaflets. 
The stamens are occasionally monadelphous and very frequently one whorl has its 
filaments dilated below the anthers, pollination being effected by a piston-mechanism, 
as in the Rest-harrow, but with the difference that the flowers in this Tribe secrete 
honey. The pod is sometimes indehiscent, or nearly so, but generally two-valved ; 
and in no case is there a longitudinal partition or septum down its interior. 
The genus Anthyllis comprises some twenty species, natives of the North 
Temperate regions of the Old World. They have pinnate leaves, with a terminal 
leaflet, and with small stipules, or none at all. The yellow, reddish, or white 
flowers are crowded together in a terminal pair of heads. This suggests that the 
primary branching of the inflorescence is a dichasial cyme, a very exceptional 
method in heguminosa ; and this gives to the inflorescence as a whole the form of 
two rounded lobes. The inflated calyx, which encloses the pod, is one of the chief 
characters distinguishing Anthyllis from the allied genus Lotus. The long claws of 
the petals, of which the four anterior are united to the filaments, form a long tube 
to the flower which restricts its honey to long-tongued bees. The filaments may be 
all united (monadelphous), as in the British species, or the upper one may be free ; 
but the anthers are rounded and all alike. Although in contact with the pollen in 
the keel, the stigma does not become receptive until it is rubbed. The small pod 
contains one or two seeds, which, unlike those of other plants known as Vetches, are 
kidney-shaped, and have thus given the British species the book-name, never truly 
“ popular,” of Kidney Vetch. 
Most of the species are more or less covered with a soft, silky pubescence of 
long hairs, and it is from this that the genus derives its name Anthyllis (from the 
Greek audos, anthos, a flower ; louXo?, ioulos, down) which was used by Dioscorides. 
The illustrious Conrad Gesner (1516-65) of Zurich seems to have been the first 
to suggest that our British species, which occurs also throughout Europe, was 
valuable for stopping bleeding. Hence it obtained the name Vulneraria (from the 
Latin vulnerare, to wound), which was used generically by Haller and the Bauhins, 
and is, therefore, written with an initial capital when used specifically by Linn6. 
The plant’s action in such cases is probably purely mechanical, like that of cobweb 
or cotton-wool. 
It is extremely difficult to be certain as to the relation of plants to the chemical 
composition of the soil. Though it is true that Babington speaks of Anthyllis 
Vulneraria as inhabiting “ dry pastures ” and Hooker’s “ Student’s Flora ” says “ dry 
rocky banks,” it would be very natural to assume that there was a relation of cause 
