THE SWEET MILK-VETCH— continued. 
port of export. Its Arabic name is Neca’at; and it is suggested that it is the Hebrew 
Necoth or Nkad, translated “ spicery ” in Genesis. 
Astragalus belongs to the Tribe Galegece which is characterised by being diadelphous, 
and having the pod divided internally by a longitudinal partition formed by the 
ingrowth of one of the sutures. Whilst in the allied genus Oxytropis, two species of 
which occur in the Scottish Highlands, this partition is formed by the ingrowth of 
the ventral suture, i.e. the inrolled margins of the carpellary leaf which form the 
upper edge of the pod, that nearest to the standard petal, in Astragalus a similar 
structure is produced by a double fold inward from the dorsal suture or midrib of 
the carpellary leaf, i.e. the lower edge of the pod or that nearest to the keel. 
The Sweet Milk-vetch (^. Linnd) Is known as Milk-vetch because 
It, or some plant confused with it, was supposed to increase the yield of milk in 
cows, one of its old names being Polygala, from the Greek ttoXu?, polus, much, and 
yd\a, gala, milk. The specific name glycyphyllos (from yXvKvs, glukus, sweet ; <f)vWov, 
phullon, a leaf) refers to the first taste of the leaves, which, however, soon turns to 
a nauseous bitter, so that cattle do not willingly eat the plant. This taste may also 
be shared by the root, though Dalech amps’s name for the plant, Glycyrrhiza sylvestris, 
of which the translation. Wild Liquorice, is sometimes used in books, may be justified 
from the general resemblance of the plant to the nearly related true Liquorice 
{Glycyrrhiza glabra Linne). 
Though, as will be seen by our Plate, this plant may develop a massive root 
and thick stem, it has a prostrate, straggling habit, like that of many of the Everlasting 
Peas. This is suitable to its habitat, growing as it does among grass and other 
vegetation in thickets, or on field-margins or sloping banks, on a chalky or gravelly 
soil. The large leaves have five or six pairs of leaflets and a terminal one, while the 
stipules, unlike those of many other species of the genus, are free. The flowers, 
which appear from June to September, are borne in shortly-stalked, dense, axillary 
racemes, with bracts which, though small, are longer than the stalks of the 
individual flowers. The calyx has five nearly equal teeth and is about half the length 
of the corolla, which is, perhaps, generally rather a pale greenish sulphur-yellow 
than the creamy white which it has been called. The bunches of smooth erect 
pods, tipped with the remains of the styles, and elongating considerably after 
fertilisation, are almost as conspicuous as the flowers. They each contain a 
number of pale, flattened seeds. 
Though somewhat widely distributed In Great Britain, the species is far 
from common, and it does not occur in Ireland. 
