PULSE FAMILY. Ill 



* * Peduncle bearing very many small soon reflexed flowers. 



V. Caroliniana. Smoothish ; with 8-24 oblong blunt leaflets, and small 

 white or purplish-tipped flowers rather loose or scattered in the slender raceme. 



V. Cracca. Only N. & W., rather downy; with 20-24 lance-oblong 

 mucronate-pointed leaflets, and a dense spike of blue flowers (nearly ' long) 

 turning purple. 



2. Flowers 1 5 on a slender peduncle, in summer or spring, very small : leaf- 

 lets oblonq-linear, 4-8 pairs : pod oblong, only 2 - 4-seeded : slender and 

 delicate European plants, run wild in fields and waste places. 



V. tetrasperma. Leaflets blunt ; corolla whitish ; pod 4-seeded, smooth. 



V. hirsuta. Leaflets truncate ; corolla bluish ; pod 2-seeded, hairy. 



3. Flowers single or few and sessile or short-pedunded in the axil of the haves, 

 pretty large : pod several-seeded : stem simple, low, not climbing. 



V. sativa, COMMON VETCH or TARE. Sometimes cult, for fodder, from 

 the Old World, run wild in some fields : somewhat hairy, with 10- 14 leaflets 

 varying from oblong or obovate to linear, and notched and mucronate at the 

 apex ; flowers mostly in pairs and sessile, violet-purple ; seeds tumid. 



V. Faba, BEAN of England, WINDSOR or HORSE-BEAN. Cult, from the 

 Old World for the edible beans (which are not much fancied in this country, 

 where we have better) : smooth, with stout erect stem l-2 high, crowded 

 leaves of 2 - 6 oblong leaflets ( l^' - 3' long), a mere rudiment of a tendril, and 

 axillary clusters of white flowers having a black spot on each wing ; pod thick 

 and fleshy, 2' - 3' long ; seeds oval, flattened, large. 



43. LENS, LENTIL. (Classical Latin name. The shape of the seed gave 

 the name to the glass lens for magnifying.) 



L. esculenta, COMMON LENTIL, of Europe, cult, for fodder and for the 

 seeds, but rarely with us : slender plant, barely 1 high, resembling a Vetch, 

 with several pairs of oblong leaflets ( long), 2 or 3 small white or purplish 

 flowers on a slender peduncle, and a small broad pod, containing 2 orbicular 

 sharp-edged (lens-shaped) seeds, which are generally yellowish or brownish, 

 a sorry substitute for beans, but good for soup. 



44. CICER, CHICK-PEA. (An old Latin name for the Vetch.) 



C. arietimim, COMMON C., of the Old World, called COFFEE-PEA at the 

 West, there cult, for its seeds, which are used for coffee : their shape gave the 

 specific name, being likened to the head of a sheep : plant 9' - 20' high, covered 

 with soft glandular acid hairs ; leaves of 8-12 wedge-obovate sen-ate leaflets ; 

 peduncle bearing one small whitish flower, succeeded by the turgid small pod. 



45. CHORIZEMA. (A fanciful name of Greek derivation.) 11 



C. ilicifdlia, HOLLY-LEAVED C. Greenhouse-plant from Australia, bushy, 

 with lance-oblong leaves cut into strong spiny teeth or lobes, and racemes of 

 small copper-colored flowers, the wings redder. 



46. BAPTIST A, FALSE INDIGO. (From Greek word meaning to dye, 

 these plants yielding a poor sort of indigo.) Foliage of most species turning 

 blackish in drying : nearly all grow in sandy or gravelly dry soil : fl. spring 

 and early summer. If. 



* Flowers yellow. 



B. perfoliata. Low and spreading, smooth and glaucous, with simple 

 round-ovate leaves surrounding the stem (perfoliate, probably answering to 

 united stipules), and single small flowers in their axils ; pod small and globular. 

 Carolina and Georgia. 



B. tinct6ria, COMMON or WILD FALSE-!NDIGO. Pale or glaucous, 

 smooth, bushy, 2 high, with 3 small wedge-obovate leaflets, hardly any com- 

 mon petiole, minute deciduous stipules, few-flowered racemes terminating the 

 branches, and small globular pods. 



