550 FLORA. 



32. SESBAN Adans. 



Herbs or shrubs, with evenly pinnate leaves, the leaflets numerous, entire, not 

 stipellate, or the stipels minute. Flowers in axillary racemes, the slender pedicels 

 with "2 deciduous bractlets under the calyx. Calyx campanulate, nearly equally 

 5-toothed. Standard broad, ovate or orbicular; wings oblong, falcate; keel blunt. 

 Stamens diadelphous (9 and i). Ovary mostly stipitate, many-ovuled; style gla- 

 brous; stigma small. Pod elongated-linear, wingless, compressed, partitioned be- 

 tween the oblong seeds. [Name Arabic.] About 15 species, natives of warm and 

 tropical regions, only the following known in N. Am. 



i. Sesban macrocarpa Muhl. LONG-PODDED SESBAN. (I. F. f. 2124.) An- 

 nual, glabrous, 1-3.5 m - ta ^- Leaflets 10-35 pairs, oblong, obtuse, mucronate, 

 thin, 2.5 cm. long or less, pale beneath; racemes shorter than the leaves, 1-5- 

 flowered; calyx-teeth subulate; corolla yellowish, purple-spotted, the standard 

 17-21 mm. long; pod 15-25 mm. long, about 4 mm. wide, somewhat curved, 

 drooping. In wet or moist soil, Mo. to Tex., S. Car. and Fla., south to Central 

 Am. Collected also in S. Penn. June-Sept. 



Colutea arborescens L. A European shrub, with odd-pinnate leaves, yellow flowers 

 in short racemes, and greatly inflated membranous pods, is reported escaped from cultiva- 

 tion in E. Mass. 



23. ASTRAGALUS L. 



Herbs, sometimes woody, mostly with odd-pinnate or sometimes simple leaves, 

 the flowers in spikes or racemes, or rarely umbellate or solitary. Stipules present. 

 Calyx tubular, its teeth nearly equal. Petals clawed; standard erect, ovate or ob- 

 long; wings oblong; keel obtuse, about equalling the wings. Stamens diadel- 

 phous; anthers all alike. Ovules oo . Pod dehiscent or indehiscent, i-2-celled, 

 very different in different species and affording the best characters in classification. 

 [Greek name of some leguminous plant.] About 1000 species, of wide geographic 

 distribution. In addition to the following, at least 175 others occur in the western 

 and southern U. S. 



* Pod 2-celled. 



Pod fleshy, thick-walled, indehiscent. 

 Pod glabrous, globose or oval. 



Corolla purple; pod pointed. I. A. crassicarpus. 



Corolla yellowish- white; pod obtuse. 2. A. Mexicanus. 



Pod pubescent, ovoid or oblong. 



Pod ovoid, about 12 mm. long, not wrinkled. 3. A. Plaffensis. 



Pod oblong, curved, 2.5 cm. long or more, wrinkled. 4. A. Tennesseensis. 



Pod dry, leathery, cartilaginous or papery, dehiscent. 



Plant densely villous-pubescent all over. 5. A. mollissimus. 



Plants glabrous or grayish-pubescent. 



Flowers yellowish ; pod terete, glabrous. 6. A. Carolinianus. 



Flowers purple; pod with a deep furrow, pubescent. 



Pod finely appressed-pubescent. 7. A. adsurgens. 



Pod densely villous with white hairs. 8. A.*Hypoglottis 



* * Pod I -celled, but one or both sutures sometimes intruded. 



Pod triangular or heart-shaped in section, membranous; flowers mostly yellowish-while. 

 Pod heart-shaped in section ; plant woolly-pubescent. 9. A. Drununondii. 



Pod triangular in section ; plant appressed-pubescent. 10. A. racemosus. 



Pod 2-grooved on the upper side; flowers purple. n. A. bisulcatus. 



Pod nearly circular, or8-shaped, in section, mostly coriaceous. 



Leaflets narrowly linear, elongated, persistent ; flowers yellow. 



12. A. pectinatus. 



Leaflets oblong, lanceolate, oblanceolate, oval or linear, deciduous. 

 Plants scapose, or short-stemmed, villous or silvery-pubescent. 



Plant gray-villous; flowers yellow. 13. A. lotiflorus, 



Plants silvery-pubescent; flowers blue, violet or purple. 



Pod nearly circular in section, straight. 14. A. Missouriensis. 



Pod 8-shaped in section, its summit curved. 15. A. Shortianus. 



Plants leafy-stemmed, appressed-pubescent or glabrate; flowers purple. 

 Pod 6-12 mm. long, wrinkled ; flowers 6 mm. long or less. 



Plant erect ; leaflets obtuse, very narrow. 16. A. gracilis. 



Plant diffuse; leaflets emarginate, short-linear. 17. A. microlobus. 

 Pod more than 12 mm. long, smooth ; flowers 12 mm. long. 



Pod not grooved, puberulent. 18. A.flcxuosus. 



