Ononis arvensis, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1981, Flora Europaea. Volume 2. Rosaceae to Umbelliferae, Cambridge University Press : 147

34. O. arvensis L. , Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1159 (1759)

(O. hircina Jacq., O. intermedia auct.).

Shrubby perennial 50-100 cm; stems erect, variably hairy. Leaves mostly 3-foliolate; leaflets 10-25 mm, elliptical to ovate. Flowers pedicellate, borne in pairs at each node, in dense terminal racemes; bracts 1 - to 3- foliolate. Corolla 10-20 mm, pink. Legume 6-9 mm, about equalling the calyx. Seeds 1-3, c. 2-5 mm, dark brown, tuberculate. In = 30. Europe from c. 65° N. in Norway, E. Germany and Albania eastwards, but absent from N. Russia. Al Au Bu Cz Da Fe Ge Gr Hu It Ju No Po Rm Rs (B, C, W, K, E) Su.

A variable species, possibly divisible into a number of sub­ species. One of the more distinct is O. spinosiformis Simkovics, Österr. Bot. Zeitschr. 27: 158 (1877) (O. semihircina Simkovics), from E.C. Europe, with 2 rows of hairs on the upper part of the stem and the corolla 10-15 mm.