[335]
Ononis Rotundifolia. Round-Leaved Rest-Harrow.
Class and Order.
Diadelphia Decandria.
Generic Character.
Cal. 5-partitus: laciniis linearibus. Vexillum striatum. Legumen turgidum sessile. Filamenta connata absque fissura.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
ONONIS rotundifolia fructicosa, foliis ternatis ovatis dentatis, calycibus triphyllo-bracteatis, pendunculis subtrifloris. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 653. Ait. Kew. v. 3. p. 25.
ONONIS rotundifolia fructicosa, pedunculis trifloris, calycibus triphyllo-bracteatis, foliis ternatis subrotundis. Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. 3. p. 1010.
CICER sylvestre latifolium triphyllum. Bauh. Pin. 347.
CICER sylvestre tertium. Dod. Pempt. 525.
No. 335
Prof. Jacquin, and most modern writers on Botany, consider the Ononis here figured, as the rotundifolia of Linnæus; it accords certainly with the figure of Dodon. to which that author refers, but is irreconcileable with his description; the leaves for example are neither parva, integerrima, nor glabra, the words by which Linnæus describes them; they are indeed evidently serrated in the figure of Dodon. which he quotes: by the name of rotundifolia, however, this plant is now very generally known in our nurseries, to which its beauty has gained it admission. Lobel tells us in his Adversaria, printed in 1576, that the plant was then growing in the garden of a Mr. Morgan; as it is not enumerated in Mr. Miller's Dictionary, ed. 6, 4to,[2] we suspect that it has been lost out of the country and re-introduced.
Baron Haller informs us, that it is found wild in abundance at the bottom of the Alps in Switzerland; it is found also in other parts of Europe.
It flowers in our open borders from May to July, in which it ripens its seeds, by which it is in general propagated, as also by slips; it grows to about the height of a foot and a half, is very hardy, and easy of culture.