DIADELPHIA. DECANDRIA. Medicago. 865 
its teeth linear, narrow, green, twice as long as the tube, copiously 
fringed with long spreading hairs, totally unlike the calyx of L. decuni- 
bens. Filaments all rather dilated upward. Legumes spreading, with 
prominent sutures, smooth, of a shining brown, very slender, often trans¬ 
versely undulated, from the projection of their numerous orbicular seeds. 
Slender Bird’s-foot Trefoil. L. angustissimus . Linn. L. diffusus . 
Soland. in Herb. Banks. FI. Brit. With. Ed. 6. L. pentaphyllos minor 
Mrsutus , siliqua angustissima. Bauh. Pin. 332. T. corniculatum minus 
pilosum. Bauh. Prod. 144. At Kingsteignton and Bishopsteignton, De¬ 
von. Rev. Dr. Beeke. FI. Brit. In low meadows a mile beyond the Hot 
Wells near Bristol. Sir T. G. Cullum. Sands near Penzance. Mr. W. 
Allen. Bot. Guide. Among the rocks near Hastings castle. Mr. Dick¬ 
son. A. May—June. Sm. Eng. FI. E.) 
MEDICA'GO. # Pistil bent, pressing down the keel: S. Vess. 
a legume, compressed, spiral. 
M. satiVa. Flowers in upright bunches: legumes narrow, regular, 
spiral: stem upright, smooth. 
Kniph. 8—(j E. Bot. 1749. E.)— Clus. ii. 242. 2— Lob. Obs. 498. 1, and Ic. 
ii. 36. 2— Ger. Em. 1189. 2— Park. 1114. 1— H. Ox. ii. 16, row 1, 2, 
and ii. 15, row 3. II.— J. B. ii. 378. 1. 
Stems striated, declining. Branches alternate. Stipulce spear-shaped, end¬ 
ing in an awn. Leaf-stalks short. Leafits three together, elliptical, 
entire at the base, serrated upwards, the mid-rib lengthened into a thorn¬ 
like point, slightly downy above, smooth, and scored with veins under¬ 
neath, on leaf-stalks, that of the terminal one the longest. Fruit- 
stalks from the bosom of the leaves, longer than the leaves. Bunches 
thick. Pedicles short. Floral-leaves awl-shaped, one at the base of each 
pedicle. Calyx nearly smooth ; teeth awl-shaped, nearly equal. Blos¬ 
som purple. Legume twisted spirally with two or three distant turns. 
Woodw. ( Root rather woody. Stems two or three feet high. E.) 
Lucerne. Purple Medick. (Welsh: Maglys rhuddlas. E.) Meadows, 
pastures, and ditch banks, supposed to be not strictly indigenous. 
P. June—July.t 
* (So called by Tournefort from Median, the more proper name of the plant, of 
Dioscorides), it having been originally introduced into Greece by the Medes, in the time 
of Darius Hydaspes. E.) 
t Modern writers upon husbandry strongly recommend the cultivation of this plant for 
the purpose of feeding cattle, but it is not yet generally adopted, though in the neighbour¬ 
hood of London its merits seem to be well understood. It requires a deep rich soil, and, 
in such, will continue to flourish many years, if kept free from weeds. One pound of 
Lucerne seed contains about 150,000 seeds, so that, supposing only one seed in three to ve¬ 
getate and to survive accidents, one pound would produce 50,000 plants. (The seed does 
not ripen to perfection in this country, but is annually imported from France. Lucerne will 
yield a heavy crop of green food by the first of May, with three other cuttings during the 
summer, and is more valuable than either Clover or Vetches. It roots deep in the earth *, and 
hence will continue a full crop when other grasses are burnt up in a dry season. Lucerne 
is three years in coming to full produce; but in the second year an acre will keep four 
horses, or two horses and two cows, all the summer.—Millar adduces various interest¬ 
ing facts relative to its utility, and we have ascertained that half an acre of Lucerne, the 
rows eighteen indies asunder, and the plants nine inches apart, will support a pair of 
carriage*horses, (cut and brought to them in the stable), without corn or hay, in good 
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