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Hedysarum (Hedysaron the Greek name used)

(Hedysaron, the Greek name used by Dioscorides). ORD. Leguminosae. This genus includes about fifty species of elegant hardy perennial herbs or sub-shrubs, which are distributed throughout Europe, North Africa, and the temperate and mountainous parts of Asia, two species being North American. Flowers purple, white, yellowish-white, or rarely yellow; peduncle bearing racemose spikes of large flowers. Leaves imparipinnate; leaflets entire often pellucid-dotted, exstipellate. Very few species are grown in our gardens, with the single exception of H. coronarium. They are all of very easy culture in ordinary gardens, but open, sunny spots, and good deep soil, are most calculated to insure success. Increased by seeds.

H. coronarium (garland).* French Honeysuckle. fl. deep red; spikes or racemes ovate, crowded. Summer. l. with three to five pairs of elliptic or roundish leaflets, which are clothed with pubescence beneath and on the margins. Stems diffuse. h. 3ft. to 4ft. South-west Europe, 1596. Perennial herb. There is also a white-flowered variety. H. flexuosum, a closely allied species, from Southern Spain, has red flowers tinged with blue.

H. Mackenzii (Mackenzie's). fl. red, large, disposed in long racemes. Summer. l., leaflets oblong, clothed on both surfaces with hoary pubescence. North America, 1878. Plant decumbent. Perennial herb. (B. M. 6386.) H. obscurum (obscure). fl. purple, in long spikes. Summer. l. with five to nine pairs of ovate-glabrous leaflets. Stems erect. h. 6in. Europe, 1640. Perennial herb. (B. M. 282.) H. sibiricum (Siberian). fl. purple; racemes long, axillary; bracts shorter than the peduncles. June and July. l. pinnate, ovate-lanceolate, smooth. h. 4ft. Siberia, 1798. Perennial herb. (B. M. 2213; B. R. 808, under name of H. alpinum.)