871 
VICIA atropurpurea, 
Dark Purple Vetch. , 
—oS 
DIADELPHIA DECANDRIa. - 
Nat. ord. LEGUMINOSE. ~ 
VICIA. L. Calyx tubulosus, 5-fidus, aut 5-dentatus, dentibus supernée 
brevioribus. Germen basi hinc glandulosum: stylus filiformis; stigma sub 
apice transversé barbatum. Legumen oblongum, polyspermum, seminibus 
rotundis hilo laterali. Caulis erectus, aut scandens, sepe gracilis; folia pin- 
nata; Stipule parve; flores axillares, 1-8 sessiles, aut spicati pedunculati. 
Juss. gen, 360. : 
SO SE A NT nn 
V. atropurpurea, foliolis lineari-lanceolatis, racemis mul 
calycibus villosissimis; dentibus setaceis, le 
cernuis hirsutissimis. Desf. atl. 2. p. 164, 
V. atropurpurea. Willd. sp. pl. 3, 1097.2 , 
erba annua, decumbens, 2-pedalis, undique pubescens. Folia multijuga, 
partum circiter 7, foliolis ellipticis, planis, apice mucronulatis, petioli cirrho 
compostto. Stipule semisagittate, nunc integre, nunc versus basin denticu- 
late. Flores atro-purpurei, in racemis axillaribus, multifloris, petioli longi- 
tudine. Calyx campanulatus, pilosus, dentibus subulatis villosis: inferioribus 
Sere alarum longitudine. pat % 
tifloris secundis, 
Suminibus ovato-oblongis 
ee ne 
This plant has been sent to England by Mr. Fischer, 
Director of the Botanic Garden at Gottingen, as the V. atron 
purpurea of Willdenow. Of that plant no authentic speci- 
mens have come within our observation; but upon referring 
to the Flora Atlantica of Desfontaines, from which work 
the species was adopted by Willdenow, we find that writer's 
description applies to our plant, as well as a definition and 
description of a wild plant on the northern coast of Africa 
can be expected to apply to a cultivated individual. The 
specific character of Willdenow, who appears to have seen 
a dried specimen of what he judged to be this plant, does not 
however, entirely agree with. it, and his description of the 
stipules of his plant, which he describes as being’ finely cut, 
is so much at variance with what we haye observed in the 
plant before us, that. we cannot avoid feeling some doubts 
