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5. Orobus tuberofus, •common bitter vetch, or heath- 
pea: leaves pinnate, lanceolate; ftipules femi-fagittate, 
’quite entire; ftem fimple. Root perennial, confiding of 
tough fibres, fwelling here and there into irregular tu¬ 
bercles, each of which produces a Halle about a foot high, 
iimple, upright, having two or three leafy or winged 
angles. Flowers from two to four or five, in a thin fpike, 
on naked fiender axillary peduncles: calyx purple,.blunt 
at the bafe, the three lowed teeth (harper, the two upper 
fhorter; corolla beautiful, reddifh-purple, turning blue 
asSt goes off. It is a native of mod parts of Europe, in 
woods, principally in a ftrong- clayey foil; flowering in 
May and'June, fometimes ia April : the feed' is ripe in 
July. The root is large, deep in the earth, and taken up 
with difficulty. The Highlanders of Scotland have a 
great efteem for the tubercles of the root; they dry and 
•chew them in general to give a better relifh to their 
liquor; they alfo affirm them to be good againft mod dis¬ 
orders of flie thorax, and that by the ufe of them they 
are enabled to repel hunger and third for a long time. 
In Bredaibane and Rofsfhire they fometimes bruife and 
deep them in water, and make an agreeable fermented 
liquor with them. They have a fweet fade, fomething 
like tiie roots of liquorice, and, when boiled, are well- 
flavoured and nutritive, and in times of fcarcity have 
ferved as a fubditute for bread. In Engiifh it is called 
■wood pen or heath-pea. Dr. Withering names it heath- 
pea J’eUng. In Erfe it is cor-meille. 
p. Retzius mentions a variety, with the dem more than 
a foot high, wide large ovate blunt leaves, and great fti- 
pules erofe-toothed at the bafe. 
6. Orobus anguftifolius, or narrow-leaved bitter vetch : 
leaves two-paired, enfiform, fubfeffile; dipules Tubulate ; 
ftem fimple. This has the habit of the preceding, but 
the leaves are enfiform-lanceolate, with two or three pairs 
of oppofite leaflets without any tendril. Flowers few, 
yellow, in racemes. Native of Siberia. Cultivated in 
1766 in the Botanic Garden at Oxford. 
7. Orobus feflilifolius, or oriental feffile-leaved bitter 
vetch-, leaves in pairs, fword-fliaped, nearly feffile ; di¬ 
pules awl fliaped; dems numerous, unbranched. Gather¬ 
ed by Dr. Sibtliorp about Athens and Meffena. Root 
perennial, tapering, branched. Stems many, weak, un¬ 
branched, angular, without wings. Leaves of only one 
pair of narrow dark-green nearly feflile leaflets. Flowers 
dark-purple, about four in each cinder. 
8. Orobus albus, or white bitter vetch: leaves two- 
paired, enfiform, petioled; dipules fimple; dem fimple. 
Roots tuberous, feffile; flowers white. Native of Aufiria. 
9. Orobus canefcens, or hoary bitter vetch: dem 
branched; leaves two-paired, linear; ftipules femi-fa- 
gittate, awl-fhaped. This refembles O. anguftifolius ; 
but the ftem is branched, and the flowers are white, with 
a tinge of blue. It differs from O. anguftifolius in having 
a branched ftem and blue flowers; nor is it a native of 
the Alps, but of the Levant, and the fouth of France, in 
barren pa (hires. 
10. Orobus varius, or parti-coloured bitter vetch : 
leaves pinnate, with about four pair of linear-lanceolate 
leaflets; ftipules half-arrow-fhaped, entire; ftem winged, 
branched above. Native of Italy, near Bologna. A hardy 
perennial with us, eafily propagated by offsets from the 
roots, and flowering abundantly in May or June, when 
its parti-coloured and very-elegant blofl'oms are a great 
ornament to the parterre. Linnaeus feems to have con¬ 
founded this in his Herbarium with anguftifolius, from 
which it totally differs in its winged and branched ftem, 
much broader and more numerous leaflets, and broader 
ftipules. The flowers are about fix in each clufter; their 
calyx red ; ftandard crimfon, fading to a pale-yellow; 
wings and keel variegated with yellow and buff. Curtis 
fays, it rarely produces feed in England. 
11. Orobus acro-purpureus, or dark-purple bitter vetch : 
Jeaves pinnate, with about three pair of linear leaflets ; 
£Upules half-liaftate, fomewhat toothed; ftem roundilh, 
z 
BUS. 
ftriated ; flowers tubular. Gathered by Desfontaines in 
neglefted fields at Algiers. The root is perennial, rather 
.woody. Stems twelve or eighteen inches high, roundilh, 
but with fome appearance of angles, ftriated, either fimple 
or branched. Leaves of two or three pair of linear very- 
narrow leaflets, on a common ftalk an inch long. Flowem 
from four to twelve or more, in a denfe clufter, turned 
one way, on a long ftalk ; corolla about an inch in length ; 
the pale claws of its petals remarkably long, cohering in 
a tubular manner, their limb deep-purple or violet. 
ia. Orobus ochroleucus, or buff bitter vetch: ftern 
branched,'ere< 5 f, hairy; leaves pinnate, with numerous 
fmooth elliptical leaflets ; ftipules ovate-lanceolate. The 
corolla is pale lulphur-coloured or buff. Native of Hun¬ 
gary. 
13. Orobus rdger, or black bitter vetch : ftem branch¬ 
ed; leaves fix-paired, ovate-oblong. Root perennial, 
ftrong, woody. Stems many, branching two feet high, 
Having one pinnate leaf at each joint, compofed of five 
or fix fmali, oblong, oval, leaflets. Peduncles very long, 
axillary, having four, five, or fix, purple flowers at the 
top. Native of moft parts of Europe, in woods and 
among bufiies, but not of Britain ; flowering from May 
to July. Cultivated in 1656 by Mr. John Tradefcant, 
junior. It turns black in drying, whence the trivial 
name. 
14.. Orobus Pyrenaicus, or Pyrenean bitter vetch : ftem 
branched; leaves two-paired, lanceolate, nerved; ftipules 
fomewhat thorny. Stem angular, with the angles flightly 
winged, branched, fomewhat villofe. Flowers directed 
one way, pendulous. Native of the fouth of Europe. Cul¬ 
tivated in 1699 by the duchefs of Beaufort. 
15. Orobus fylvaticus, or wood bitter vetch .- ftems 
decumbent, hirfute, branched. From the root arife nu¬ 
merous procumbent ftems, much branched, and even the 
younger flioots but flightly hairy. Leaves alternate, with 
each a pair of femi-fagittate ftipules at the bafe, refembling 
thofe of O. tuberofus, but fmaller, and terminating in a 
more acute point. Leaflets oval or elliptical, never acutely 
pointed, terminated by the produced midrib, as in O. tu¬ 
berofus, on very fliort hairy footftalks, fomewhat alter¬ 
nate, fix to twelve pairs, without an odd one; but a fort 
of beard terminating the footftaik, which, as well as the 
ftem, is but flightly hairy. Flowers numerous, on fliort 
pedicels, crowded on the fnmrnit of a long naked pedun¬ 
cle, moftly pointing one way; calyx fliort, fomewhat bila- 
biated, nearly equal, the upper lip confiding of two teeth, 
the lower of three rather longer, green tinged with red, 
and fringed with hairs; corolla long and narrow. Le¬ 
gume fliort, comprefled, fmooth. 
According to Linnaeus, the ftems are branched and 
grooved, leaflets lix or feven pairs, corolla red on the out- 
fide, white within with purple lines, legume comprefled, 
containing two or three feeds. Lightfoot deferibes the 
flowers as white ftriated with purple veins, the apex of 
the keel bright-purple. The whole plant has a difagree- 
able bitter tafte. 
Mr. Woodward remarks, that his fpecimens differ fo 
materially in fome points from Mr. Lightfoot’s .deferip- 
tion and figure, that he (hould have been tempted to fup- 
pofe his a different plant, were it not that lie gathered it 
on the fpot deferibed by Ray, and that it anfwers to the 
defeription in the Synopfis, which is quoted by Linnaeus ; 
and is as follows : Root thick, woody, perennial, with a 
leguminous tafte. Stems numerous, a foot or eighteen 
inches in height, hairy, ftriated, branched, reclining, al¬ 
though they are rigid. Leaves fmaller than thofe of the 
common vetch, to feven or eight pairs, without any odd 
leaflet or tendril, dark-green above, fmooth beneath. 
Flowers fix, feven, or more, on the fame common pedun¬ 
cle, approaching in their form to thofe of Vicia (ylveftris. 
Indeed the whole habit of this plant accords better with, 
many of the Viciae than with the prefent genus. It is the 
Vicia caffubica of the Flora Danica, (but not of Linnaeus;) 
and from that work the annexed Engraving is copied. 
