120 
XXX. LEGUMIXOSJE 
smooth, minute, strongly curved, black when ripe, tip coiled ; seed 
solitary. 
Plains of X. India, ascending to 10,000 ft. ; March-October. — W. Asia, 
X. Africa, Europe (Britain). 
3. Medicago denticulata, Willd. ; FI. Br. Ind. ii. 90. Annual, 
nearly glabrous ; stems several, 4-24 in., procumbent. Leaflets 
obovate, J to nearly 1 in. Flowers about -J- in., in 2-6-flowered 
clusters. Pod net- veined, flat, spirally twisted in 2 or 3 coils and 
bearing two rows of hooked spines along the outer margin ; seeds 
several. 
Valleys below Simla ; March-October.— Plains of X. India, ascending to 
5000 ft. — Asia, X. Africa, Europe (Britain). 
10. LOTUS. A classical name applied by the ancients to 
several species. — Most temperate regions. 
Lotus corniculatus, Linn. ; FI. Br. Ind. ii. 91. A perennial, 
glabrous herb ; stems slender, decumbent or ascending, very short 
or more than a foot long. Leaves of 5 leaflets ; leaflets ovate, 
obovate or oblong, J-J in., nearly sessile, entire, 2 at the base of 
the leaf -stalk, 3 at the tip, occasionally there is only one leaflet at 
the base and 4 at the tip or 3 at the tip and one intermediate ; 
stipules none or reduced to minute glands. Flowers about \ in. 
long, yellow, often streaked with crimson, 5-10 in a long-stalked, 
axillary umbel with a leaf of 3 leaflets close under it. Calyx bell- 
shaped ; teeth 5, distinct, nearly equal, acute. Petals about twice 
as long as the calyx : standard longer than the wings, clawed, 
erect ; keel abruptly incurved, pointed. Upper stamen free, 
others united, 5 alternate ones longer than the others and 
thickened upwards ; anthers uniform. Style abruptly incurved 
just above the ovary, glabrous ; stigma minute. Pod cylindric, 
straight, 1-1 \ in. ; seeds several, separated by a pith -like sub- 
stance which nearly fills the pod. 
Simla, Matiana, Huttoo ; April-September. — Asia, Africa, Australia, 
Europe (Britain, Bird’s-foot Trefoil). 
11. INDIGOFERA. From the Latin indicum , signifying a blue 
pigment believed to be the same as the modern indigo, derived 
from the word India, whence it was procured, and fero , I bear. 
- — A large genus spread through nearly all tropical, and extend- 
ing into some temperate regions. 
Herbs or shrubs more or less covered with white, adpressed 
hairs fixed by the centre, often mixed with ordinary hairs or t omen- 
tum. Leaves odd-pinnate ; leaflets 5 or more, rarely only 3, entire, 
usually opposite ; stipules usually small, shortly united to the 
leaf-stalk. Flowers red, pink or purple, in axillary, often erect 
racemes, rarely in ovoid heads. Bracts minute or long and more 
