Hippocrepis
(from hippos, a horse, and krepis, a shoe; in allusion to the shape of the pod). Horse-shoe Vetch. ORD. Leguminosae. A genus comprising about twelve species of pretty, usually hardy, herbs or low shrubs, inhabitants of Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. Flowers yellow, nodding, honeyed; pe-duncles axillary. Leaves impari-pinnate; leaflets entire, exstipellate. The species are of very easy culture in ordinary garden soil, and may be increased by division of the root, or by seeds. H. balearica requires green-house or frame protection in winter, and thrives in a peat and loam soil.
H. balearica (Balearic). fl., peduncles longer than the leaves, bearing an umbel of flowers at the apex. Summer. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Minorca, 1776. Plant shrubby, erect, half-hardy. (B. M. 427.) H. comosa (tufted). fl. disposed similar to those of H. balearica. Spring and summer. l., leaflets seven to eleven, obovate, obtuse. Stem herbaceous, prostrate. South and West Europe (Britain), North Africa. (Sy. En. B.380.)