ERVUM tetraspermum.
Smooth Tare.
DIADELPHIA Decandria.
G e n . C h a r . Stigma c ap ita te , h a iry all o v e r.
S p e c . C h a r . Stalks two-flowered. Pods smooth, each
containing several seeds.
S y n . Ervum tetraspermum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1039. Sm.
FI. Brit. 775. Hucis. 320. With. 639. Hull. 166.
Relh. 282. Sihth. 225. Abbot. 159. Curt. Land,
fa sc. 1. t. 55.
Cracca minor, siliquis singularibus, flosculis casrules-
centibus, Raii Syn. 322.
I f the Ervum hirsutum, t. 970, be formidable to the farmer
as a weed, on account of its extreme luxuriance and fertility,
this is equally or more so; for its pods are almost as plentiful,
and bear 4 seeds instead of 2.
The root is annual, and the flowers begin to appear in June.
Stem branched, weak, climbing, square, hairy. Leaflets numerous,
alternate, obtuse, hairy beneath, their common stalk
ending in a branched tendril. Flowers in pairs on long slender
axillary stalks, drooping, pale-blue, veiny. Calyx hairy.
Pods oblong, pendulous, smooth, containing .4 seeds, sometimes
more. We have from Mr. Woodward what seems a
variety with from 5 to 7 seeds in each pod, and rather larger
flowers than usual. It grew on a barren gravelly soil in
Huntingdonshire.
The English names of these two species of Ervum, Smooth
Tare, and Hairy Tare, apply to the pods, and not to any other
parts of the plant, for the herbage is most hairy in that now
before us.