Cart. 307; T. procumbens-(E. Bot. 1256. E.)-Ray. 14. 3, at p. 332-H. Ox. ii. 13. 1 and 2. b, the lowermost of the 2 figures-Lob. Obs. 468. 1, and Ic. ii. 29. 2-Ger. Em. 1186. 6-Park. 1111. 5. Stems numerous, six to twelve inches long, much branched. Stipulæ in pairs, obtusely oval-spear-shaped. Leaf-stalks short. Leafits heartwedge or egg-shaped, very entire towards the base, serrated upwards, the odd one on a short leaf-stalk, the side one nearly sessile, smooth. .Fruit-stalks from the bosom of the leaves, longer than the leaf-stalks, slightly downy. Pedicles very short. Floral-leaves none. Flowers after .. flowering bent back, hanging loosely and separate. Woodw. Stem a little hairy. Leafits inversely heart-shaped, mid-rib a little hairy underneath, with about seven semi-transparent lateral ribs. Flowers yellow; loosely tiled. This is the most common sort of Hop Trefoil, and may be found in almost every dry, sandy, or gravelly pasture, especially where the turf is fine, but varying greatly in size according to the richness or poverty of the soil, and flowering from May to August. On considering that the above described plants frequently grow intermixed, are very similar in general habit, and subject to considerable variation in size, we hesitate to admit the latter as a distinct species. On this point the acute Greville observes, “I cannot find sufficient difference between T. filiforme and minus, to make them even varieties. The middle leafit is both sessile and petiolate on the same specimen in both plants, and is so represented in E. Bot. 1257 as T. filiforme. The teeth of the calyx, said by Sir J. E. Smith to be glabrous in the same plant, are figured in E. Bot. slightly hairy in both. The peduncles are pubescent in each; as to the latter being somewhat flexuose or straight, and the heads few or manyflowered, no importance can surely be placed on such characters." Fl. Edin. p. 162. E.) T. SUFFOCATUM. Without stem or stalk: flowers nearly sessile on the root (seed-vessel inhumed, two-seeded. E.) (E. Bot. 1049. E.)-Jacq. Hort. 60. Flowers in clusters, sessile, axillary, buried in the earth. Calyx oblong, compressed, smooth, five-cleft, segment reflexed. Blossom within the tube of the calyx, colourless, (pale pink, according to Sm. transient. E.) Leaves ternate, inversely egg-shaped, smooth, somewhat toothed. Linn. Every part of the plant, except the leaves, is buried in the sand, (so that even its seeds are actually perfected subterraneously, and without light: E.) but on putting down a knife or a stick the whole plant may be raised, and then its flowers and fruit come into view. The clusters in some of the older plants are as large as a small nut. Woodw. (SUFFOCATED TREFOIL. Welsh: Meillionen fygiedig. E.) Discovered in England by Mr. Lilly Wigg, on the driest sandy part of Yarmouth Denes, near the sea; (and also found at Lowestoft, Suffolk, and other places on the eastern coast by Mr. Woodward. Plentiful on the Den at Teignmouth. Rev. Dr. Beeke, in Bot. Guide. Near the boat-house, Sandgate; the warren, New Romney; and the common, at Lydd. Mr. G. E. Smith. On Beaumaris Green. Welsh Bot. E.) A. June-Sept. LOTUS. Calyx tubular: wings converging longitudinally upwards: legume straight, (cylindrical, spongy within. E.) (The origin of this name seems involved in mystery. According to Herodotus it is of Egyptian extraction, and may probably be derived from A, to desire; as though valuable L. CORNICULA'TUS. (Heads depressed, of few flowers: stems recumbent, pithy: legumes spreading, nearly cylindrical: claw of the standard obovate: filaments all dilated. Sm. E.) (Hort. Gram.-E. Bot. 2090. E.)—Fl. Dan. 991-Curt. 107-Kniph. 7— Ger. 1022. 6—J. B. ii. 355—Walc.-Dod. 573. 2—Lob. Obs. 501. 2, and Ic. ii. 44. 1-Ger. Em. 1190. 5-H. Ox. ii. 18. 10-Anderson, Astragalus glycyphyllus-Fuchs. 527-Trag. 594—Lonic. i. 106. 3. (Stems three to eight inches long, spreading, slightly branched, more or less. clothed with appressed hairs. Leaves shortly petiolate; leafits obovate, pubescent, especially beneath. Stipules resembling the leaves. Flowers bright yellow, four or five in a depressed, pedunculate head; the peduncle long, erect. Calyx with five subulate teeth, hairy. Standard of the corolla streaked with red, often quite red before expansion. Legumes narrow, subcylindrical, purplish brown, near an inch long. Grev. COMMON BIRD'S-FOOT CLOVER (or TREFOIL. L. corniculatus. Linn. L. gibbus. (from the gibbous vexillum.) Welsh Bot. (Gaelic: Bàr-a'mhilsein. E.) Meadows, pastures, heaths, and road sides. P. June-Aug.* (L. MAJOR. Heads depressed, many-flowered: stems erect, tubular: legumes drooping, cylindrical: claw of the standard linear: shorter filaments not dilated. Sm. E. Bot. 2091-Riv. Tetr. 76. 1, Lotus-J. B. ii. 356. 1. Stems one to three feet high, erect, pubescent, chiefly above, quite hollow, branched. Leaves obovate, or roundish-obovate, much larger than in the preceding, but similar in other characters. Stipules resembling the leaves. Flowers six to twelve, bright yellow, the standard veined with red. Calyx with the teeth hairy and somewhat denticulate under a lens. Legumes spreading, narrow, cylindrical. Grev. GREATER BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL. L. major. Scop. L. corniculatus. var. Linn. With. Fl. Brit. Hook. species. R. Syn. 334. L. pilosus? Welsh Bot. moist bushy places, and hedges. Sm. Purt. Sinc. Grev. or desirable; which it certainly must be accounted, whether the name be applied as here, or to the different genera so denominated in Egypt, or Assyria. E.) * The flowers become greenish when dried: in which respect they resemble those of the plants which produce indigo. Cows, goats, and horses eat it. Sheep and swine are not fond of it. Thrips Physapus is found upon it, (also Apion Loti.-The minute gall-gnat, Tipula Loti, sometimes inhabits the blossom, and strangely metamorphoses its appearance. It is likewise a favourite food of the caterpillar of the white butterfly, Leucophasia Sinapis. E.) In Hertfordshire it is cultivated as pasturage for sheep. With.-It is strongly recommended by Anderson, (both for fodder and hay though under the erroneous name of Milk Vetch. E.)-There is no doubt but it might be cultivated to advantage. In moist meadows it grows much higher than any of the Trefoils or Medicago lupulina, and makes extremely good hay. Mr. Woodward. (The Bird's-foot Trefoils contain more bitter extractive and saline matters than either the grasses or clovers: in pastures and meadows, therefore, where clovers happen to be in small quantities, a portion of L. corniculatus would doubtless be of advantage, but it requires intermixture with other plants, especially in irrigated meadows. Hort. Gram. It is said to be particularly well adapted to poor soil, though after once being eaten off, its growth is not rapid. E.) (Mr. Sinclair states that he has raised this plant from seed on two different soils, the above characters remaining permanent; and expresses his surprise that two plants so distinct in habits should have so long been considered varieties only. "What renders a (Several varieties of one or other of the above species have been recorded, as more or less attenuated, smooth, hairy, or hoary. R. Syn. 334. Hall. 385. E.) (L. DECUMBENS. Heads of few flowers: stems recumbent, nearly solid legumes somewhat spreading, cylindrical, two-edged: calyx hairy, its teeth shorter than the tube. Stems widely spreading, partly quite prostrate, a foot or more in length, filled with light pith, angular, leafy, smooth, somewhat glaucous. Leaves glaucous, smooth above; occasionally clothed beneath with short, close, bristly hairs. Leaflets and stipules similar, lanceolate, pointed, oblique, except the terminal one, which is obovate-lanceolate. Common foot-stalk but half the length of the leaflets, channelled, slightly bordered. Flowerstalks axillary, four or five times the length of the leaves, smooth, stout and firm, obscurely angular, each bearing an umbel of from three to six bright yellow flowers, accompanied by a terminate leaf without stipulas. In starved plants the flowers are solitary. Partial stalks and calyx all over silky, with more or less abundant, short, close hairs; the calyx-teeth lanceolate, tapering, spreading, shorter than the tube, somewhat hairy, with wide rounded interstices. Separate portion of each filament of considerable length, the longest dilated upwards. Legumes nearly erect, or but slightly spreading, smooth, dotted, cylindrical, without any depression or channel, both sutures rather prominent, forming a ridge along each margin. Hitherto confounded with L. corniculatus, or the following. SPREADING BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL, L. decumbens. Forst. At Hastings, near Bulverhithe; also in meadows near Tunbridge. Forster. In fields near Forfar, North Britain. Mr. G. Don. P. July. Sm. Eng. Fl. E.) (L. ANGUSTIS'SIMUS. Peduncle one or two-flowered: stem much branched, prostrate, tubular: legumes two-edged, very slender, somewhat compressed: calyx loosely hairy: teeth fringed, twice the length of the tube. E. Bot. 925.-J. B. ii. 356––H. Ox. ii. 18. 1. Pubescence consisting of fine, long, loose and spreading hairs, like those of L. major, but far more constant and abundant. Root beset with small tubercles, certainly annual. Stems partly ascending, densely leafy, very hairy, six to ten inches long, with a small internal cavity destitute of pith. Leafits and stipules ovate, pointed, rather glaucous, hairy on both sides. Flower-stalks spreading, weak and slender, once or twice as long as the leaves, hairy, each bearing for the most part two, rather small, bright yellow flowers, sometimes but one, very rarely three, with a ternate leaf at the base of their partial stalks. Cal. widely funnel-shaped; specific distinction of most importance to the farmer, is the difference which exists between them in an agricultural point of view. The weight of green food, or hay, produced by L. major is triple that of L. corniculatus, and its nutritive powers are little inferior, but it is extremely bitter. It does not appear to be eaten by any cattle when in a green state; but when made into hay with common grasses, sheep, oxen, and deer eat it without reluctance. In moist clayey soils it would doubtless be a most profitable substitute for red clover, but the excess of bitter extractive and saline matters it contains seems to forbid its adoption without a considerable admixture of other plants," Hort. Gram. E.) its teeth linear, narrow, green, twice as long as the tube, copiously fringed with long spreading hairs, totally unlike the calyx of L. decumbens. Filaments all rather dilated upward. Legumes spreading, with prominent sutures, smooth, of a shining brown, very slender, often transversely undulated, from the projection of their numerous orbicular seeds. SLENDER BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL. L. angustissimus. Linn. L. diffusus. Soland. in Herb. Banks. Fl. Brit. With. Ed. 6. L. pentaphyllos minor hirsutus, siliqua angustissima. Bauh. Pin. 332. T. corniculatum minus pilosum. Bauh. Prod. 144. At Kingsteignton and Bishopsteignton, Devon. Rev. Dr. Beeke. Fl. 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. DickA. May-June. Sm. Eng. Fl. E.) son. 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-(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. Qx. ii. 16, row 1, 2, and ii. 15, row 3. II.-J. B. ii. 378. 1. Stems striated, declining. Branches alternate. Stipula spear-shaped, ending in an awn. Leaf-stalks short. Leafits three together, elliptical, entire at the base, serrated upwards, the mid-rib lengthened into a thornlike point, slightly downy above, smooth, and scored with veins underneath, on leaf-stalks, that of the terminal one the longest. Fruitstalks 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. Blossom 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 Medica, the more proper name of the plant, (undian of Dioscorides), it having been originally introduced into Greece by the Medes, in the time of Darius Hydaspes. E.) + 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 neighbourhood 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 vegetate 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 interesting facts relative to its utility, and we have ascertained that half an acre of Lucerne, the rows eighteen inches asunder, and the plants niue inches apart, will support a pair of carriage horses, (cut and brought to them in the stable), without corn or hay, in good M. FALCATA. Flowers in upright bunches: legumes sickle-shaped: stem prostrate. (E. Bot. 1016. E.)—Fl. Dan. 233-Kniph. 11-Riv. Tetr. 84-Falcata ;H. Ox. ii. 16, row 1. 1, and ii. 15, row 3. 1-Clus. ii. 243. 1-Ger. Em. 1191. 8-Park. 1114. 3-J. B. ii. 383. 2.· (Root long and woody. Habit like the preceding. Stems hairy. Leaves and stipula same as M. sativa; clusters usually shorter and more dense, but variable. Flowers pale yellow or violet, frequently green, from a combination of these two colours. Legumes black, downy. Seeds from four to eight, kidney-shaped, yellowish. The pollen is conveyed to the stigma by the curved germen releasing itself with a spring from the closed keel of the flower. Sm. E.) About YELLOW SICKLE MEDICK. BUTTER-JAGGS. Balks of cornfields, and (E. Bot. 971. E.)-Fl. Dan. 992-Curt. 120-Kniph. 11-Riv. Tetr. 8, Melilotus minima—H. Ox. ii. 15, row 4. f.-Fuchs. 819-Trag. 593—J. B. ii. 380. 4-Dod. 576. 2—Ger. Em. 1186. 5-Park. 1106. 6—H. Ox. ii. 16. 8-Ger. 1020. 2-Lonic. i. 106. 4. Stems, six to 18 inches long, somewhat angular, unless supported by other plants, trailing. Branches very numerous, alternate. Stipula ovalspear-shaped, with a long awn. Leaves on very short leaf-stalks. Leafits three together, oblong-wedge-shaped, serrated upwards, notched at the end, with the mid-rib lengthened into a projecting point. Head oval. Flowers small, 30 or 40 together. Calyx slightly downy, nearly as long as the blossom; teeth awl-shaped, the two upper ones rather shorter. Blossom yellow. Legume turning black when ripe. Woodw. ; sometimes quite smooth and hairless. working condition for twenty weeks, from June to October inclusive, and they prefer it to any other kind of food. It should be given cautiously at first, as it then proves a powerful diuretic; and too great abundance will in some horses occasion the staggers. Pigs devour it greedily, and cows fatten on it. Dr. Turner, who published a Herbal about the year 1550, is the earliest English author who relates the utility of this plant, and his information was chiefly derived from the Roman naturalists; though it has been conjectured that he first introduced the cultivation of Lucerne, or, as he calls it, Horned Clover, into England. E.) * In hot, dry, barren, sandy places it is well worth the trouble of sowing for the purpose of hay, a practice long since adopted in some parts of Sweden. Cows, horses, goats, and sheep eat it. (It is supposed to produce as good fodder as Lucerne, though less available to the scythe. Vid. Experiments by Thos. Le Blanc, Esq. in Martyn's Mill. Dict. E.) |
