112 PULSE FAMILY. 



B. lanceolata. Downy when young, spreading, with 3 thickish blunt leaf- 

 lets varying from lanceolate to obovate, a very short common petiole, small de- 

 ciduous stipules, and rather large flowers solitary in the axils and in short ter- 

 minal racemes, the pod globular and slender-pointed. Common S. & S. W. 



B. villbsa. Minutely downy, with stout stems 2 high, 3 spatulate-oblong 

 or wedge-obovate leaflets, becoming smooth above, a very short common petiole, 

 stipules more or less persistent, and many-flowered racemes of large flowers 

 on slender pedicels ; the pod minutely downy, oblong, taper-pointed. From 

 Carolina S. W. 



* * Flowers ivhite, in the first cream-color : leaves all of 3 leaflets varying from 

 wedqe-obovate to oblanceolate, and flowers in long racemes terminating tlte 

 branches. 



B. leucophaea. Low and spreading, 1 high, soft-hairy, with persistent 

 large and leaf-like bracts and stipules, reclined one-sided racemes of cream- 

 colored large (!' long) flowers on slender pedicels, and hoary ovate pods. Open 

 woods, chiefly W. 



B. alba/ Smooth, 2 - 3 high, with slender widely spreading branches, 

 slender petioles, minute deciduous stipules and bracts, loose erect or spreading 

 long-peduncled racemes of small flowers ('-' long), and cylindrical pods. 

 From Virginia S. 



B. leucantha. Smooth and glaucous, stout, 3 - 5 high, with spreading 

 branches, rather short petioles, the lanceolate stipules and bracts deciduous, 

 erect long racemes of large (!' long) flowers, and oval-oblong pods 2' long, 

 raised on a stalk fully twice the length of the calyx. Alluvial soil, from Ohio 

 W. & S. 



* * * Flowers blue : leaves of 3 leaflets as in the foregoing. 



B. australis. Smooth and stout, pale, erect, 2 - 5 high, with oblong- 

 wedge-shaped leaflets, lanceolate and rather persistent stipules as long as the 

 short petiole, erect racemes of pretty large (nearly 1' long) flowers on short 

 pedicels, and oval-oblong pods 2' -3' long, on a stalk of the length of the 

 calyx. 



47. THERMOPSIS. (From Greek words meaning that the plants resem- 

 ble the Lupine.) Flowers yellow. 2/ 



T. m611lS. Wild in open woods from N. Carolina S. : downy, l-2 high, 

 with spreading branches, 3 obovate-oblong leaflets, oblong-ovate leafy stipules, 

 some of them as long as the short petioles, and long narrow-linear 'spreading 

 pods short-stalked in the calyx: fl. spring. (There are two other species in the 

 Southern Alleghanies.) 



T. fabacea, which is erect with oval leaflets and upright pods, is sparingly 

 cult, from Siberia, and wild in N. W. America. 



48. CLADRASTIS, YELLOW-WOOD. (Meaning of name obscure, 

 perhaps from Greek for brittle branches.) 



C. tinct6ria (also named VinofLiA L^TEA), native of rich woods from 

 E. Kentucky S., planted for ornament, one of the very handsomest and neatest 

 of ornamental trees ; with light yellow wood, a close bark like that of Beech, 

 leaves of 7-11 parallel-veined oval or ovate leaflets (3' -4' long and smooth, as 

 is the whole plant), and ample hanging panicles (1 or more long) of pretty, 

 delicately fragrant, cream-white flowers, terminating the branchlets of the season, 

 in May or June. 



49. SOPHORA. (An Arabic name altered.) There is a wild herbaceous 

 species beyond the Mississippi, a low shrubby one on the coast of Florida, 

 and a tree in Arkansas and Texas which in its fleshy jointed pod and in ap- 

 pearance much resembles the following : 



S. Japonica, JAPAN S. Planted for ornament, hardy to New England ; 

 tree 20 - 50 high, with greenish bark, 11-13 oval or oblong acute smooth 

 leaflets, and loose panicles of cream-white flowers, terminating the branches at 

 the end of summer, the fruit a string of fleshy 1 -seeded joints. 



