Ononis
(the old Greek name used by Theophrastus). Rest Harrow. ORD. Leguminosae. An extensive genus (about sixty species) of glabrous, pubescent, or villous, greenhouse or hardy, annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, sub-shrubs, or rarely shrubs, inhabiting Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, and extending to the Canary Islands. In the British Flora, the genus is represented by the variable O. spinosa, an under-shrub, and O. reclinata, a low-growing annual. Flowers pink, yellow, or white, in axillary, solitary, or two or three-flowered, racemose peduncles, or sessile. Pod oblong or linear, two-valved. Leaves usually pinnately trifoliolate; stipules adnate to the petioles. Several species are of easy culture in any ordinary garden soil, and are very suitable subjects for growing on banks and rockwork. Propagated by seeds, or by divisions. The species here described are those best known to cultivation.
O. arragonensis (Arragon).* fl. yellow, almost sessile, twin, disposed in a leafless raceme; calyx half as long as the corolla. May to July. l. trifoliolate, glabrous; leaflets roundish, serrated. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Spain, Arragon, &c., 1816. Half-hardy shrub.
O. fruticosa (shrubby). fl. purple; peduncles three-flowered, disposed in a raceme. Summer. l. trifoliolate; leaflets sessile, smooth, lanceolate, shining, unequally serrated. h. 1ft. to 2ft. South-western Europe, 1680. A handsome, low-growing, hardy shrub. (B. M. 317.)
O. hispanica (Spanish). fl. yellow; pedicels one-flowered. July. l. trifoliolate; leaflets nearly round, undulate, toothed, clammy-pubescent; stipules spreading, deflexed. h. 1 1/2ft. Spain, 1799. Half-hardy shrub. (B. M. 2450.)
O. minutissima (very small). fl. yellow, in leafy, aggregate spikes; corolla shorter than the calyx. June. l. trifoliolate; leaflets oblong, obovate-cuneate, serrated; stipules subulate, entire. h. 3in. South-west Europe, 1818. A somewhat tufted bardy biennial. (J. F. A. 240.)
O. Natrix (goat-root).* fl. yellow, veined with red; pedicels one-flowered, each furnished with an awn. Summer. l. alternate, trifoliolate; leaflets oblong, serrated at the apex, the upper ones sometimes simple. h. 1 1/2ft. to 2ft. South Europe, 1683. Hardy perennial herb, clothed with a clammy pubescence. (B. M. 329.)
O. peduncularis (peduncular). fl., petals white, with pink margins; peduncles thrice as long as the leaves, slender, glandular-pubescent. April. l. simple, obovate, dentate, pubescent, patent or recurved. h. 1ft. Teneriffe. 1829. Tender perennial herb. (B. R. 1447.)
O. rotundifolia (round-leaved).* fl. rose; peduncles three-flowered, bractless. Summer. l. trifoliolate; leaflets obovate, roundish, toothed. h. 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. South Europe, 1570. A very handsome and most desirable, somewhat shrubby, hardy species. (B. M. 335.) O. viscosa (clammy). fl. yellow, the back of the standard striped with purple, numerously disposed in panicled spikes. Summer. l., lower ones trifoliolate, upper ones simple. h. 1 1/2ft. to 3ft. South Europe, 1759. A handsome, hardy annual. (S. F. G. 678.)