160 



LEGUMINOS^. [Lathyms. 



superioribus valde abbreviatis, (corollis purpureis,) leguminibus — ?. — Purshy Fl. Atn, 

 V. 2.p, 471. 



Hab. Banks of the Saskatchawan ; abundant. Dr. Richardson ; Drummond. Bushy places In North- 

 West America. Douglas. — I doubted whether 1 might not refer this plant to the L. venosus of Muhl. in 

 Willd., since it is described as being similar to i. pisiformis, " except in the stipules being much smaller:" 

 but then their shape is different, the leaflets are described as much broader, and the whole plant as 

 glabrous. Again, the L. polymorphus of Nuttall accords, in some respects ; but it is said to be glabrous. 

 in regard to its being the L. decapliyllus of Pursh, I can only say that the short description of that author, 

 unsatisfactory as it is, agrees with it, except that the number of flowers upon a peduncle is greatly more 

 than three or four. Still I have been very imwilling to swell unnecessarily the number of species of a genus 

 already too much encumbered with questionable ones. The present Individual is large and straggling ; many 

 of Us leaflets two and a half to three inches long. Stems square, striated, and, as well as the whole plant, 

 sensibly downy. Calyx thickly downy. The stipules, however, afford the most essential character by which 

 this may at once be distinguished from the preceding. They are small, lanceolate, sagittate, the lobe so long and 

 so defiexed that in general the stipule appears to be lanceolate, acuminate at both extremities, and attached 

 by the margin at the middle. In the present, and all the foregoing broad-leaved species, the style is nearly 

 linear, slightly dilated upwards, the lower margin a little recurved, just where it unites with the germen, 

 the rest plane, compressed, with the down occupying a considerable length of the upper and plane surface. 



r 



4. Ij, stipulaceus ; glaberrimus, caule acute tetragono (vix alato), foliolis 3-jugis ellipticis 

 mucronatis, stipulis ovato-semisagittatis acumihatis magnis, pedunculis 4-6-flons folio 

 longioribus, leguminibus (immaturis) linearibus acuminatis compressis glabris, — "Ze Conte 

 in Cat PL New York, p. 92." De Cand. Prodr. v, 2. p. 371. 



Hab. Upper Canada. Mr. Goldie. Lake Huron. Dr, Todd,— In foliage, this is intermediate between 

 the preceding broad-leaved species, and the following narrow-leaved one; in .the stipules, between Z. 

 ochroleucus, and Z. decaphyllus ; and it is possible it may be included in the L. polymorphus of Nuttall. 

 The stipules are not half the size of those of L. ochroleucuSy while they are thrice the size of, and greatly 

 broader than, those of the L. decaphyllus, I have received the same plant, without a name, both from 

 Philadelphia and New York; but I have no specimen from the British Possessions, save from the 

 localities above-mentioned. The plant well accords with the L. stipulaceus of Le Conte, only that its stem 

 is rather acutely -l-angular, than winged, as it is in the following species.— I am still unacquainted with any 

 North-American Lathyri which will entirely agree with the Z. venosus or L. myrtifolius, both of Muhl., in 

 Willd. Sp. PI, and I introduce them here upon the authority of Mr, Douglas. All the North American 

 Lathyri have their leaves very, and almost equally, veiny. 



5. L. venosus; caulibus tetragonis non alatis, foliis multijugis, foliolis ovatis obtusis 

 suboppositis mucronatis glabrisj cirrbis trifidis, stipulis semisagittato-ovatis, pedunculis 

 multifloris folio brevioribus, leguminibus—? DC,~~Muhl in Willd, Sp, PL v. 3. p. 1092. 

 Pursh, FL Am. v. 2. p, 471. Nutt. Gen. v. 2. p. 96. De Cand. Prodr. v. 2. p. 371. 



Hab. Common throughout the great chain of lakes in Upper Canada: plentiful on -the Red River and 

 the River Winipeg. Douglas. 



6. L. myrtifolius; caule debili flexuoso tetragono non alato, foliis 2-3-jugis, foliolis 

 oblongo-Ianceolatis obtusiusculis mucronatis rigidiusculis glabris venoso-striatis, cirrhis 

 trifidis, stipulis semisagittato-lanceolatis acuminatis margine scabris, pedunculis 3-4-floris 

 folio longioribus, leguminibus—? DC.—MukL in IVilld. Sp. PL v. 3. p. 1091. Pursh, Fl. 

 Am. V. 2. p. 471. Nutt Gen. v. 2. p. 96. De Cand. Prodr. v. 2. p. 371. 



Hab. J^ear Fort-Erie, and on the banks of the Niagara to Queenstown. Douglas. 



