352 



FABACEAE. 



VOL. II. 



4. Medicago arabica (L.) Huds. Spotted 

 Medic. Fig. 2471. 



M. polymorpha arabica L. Sp. PI. 780. 1753. 

 Medicago arabica Huds. F1. Angl. 288. 1762. 

 Medicago macnlata Sibth. Fl. Oxon. 232. 1794. 



Annual, usually pubescent, with spreading hairs, 

 closely resembling the preceding species, but gener- 

 ally stouter. Leaflets often nearly i' long, and with 

 a conspicuous dark spot or spots near the centre ; 

 pod nearly globose, of 3 or 4 compactly wound coils, 

 reticulate-veined on the sides, the edge thicker and 

 furrowed between the marginal rows of curved 

 prickles. 



In waste places and ballast, New Brunswick to 

 Pennsylvania and Georgia. Also on the Pacific Coast. 

 Fugitive or adventive from Europe. Summer. Bur-, 

 heart-, California or spotted-clover. Heart-trefoil. Heart- 

 leaf. Purple grass. 



ii. MELILOTUS [Tourn.] Mill. Card. Diet. Abr. Ed. 4. 1754. 



Annual or biennial herbs, with 3-foliolate petioled leaves, dentate leaflets, their veins 

 commonly ending in the teeth, and small white or yellow flowers in slender racemes. Calyx- 

 teeth short, nearly equal; standard obovate or oblong; wings oblong; keel obtuse. Stamens 

 diadelphous; anthers all alike. Ovary sessile or stipitate, few-ovuled; style filiform. Pod 

 ovoid or globose, straight, indehiscent or finally 2-valved. Seeds solitary or few. [Greek, 

 Honey-lotus.] 



About 20 species, natives of Europe, Africa and Asia. Type species: Trifolium Melilotus 

 officinalis L. 



Flowers white ; standard a little longer than the wings. 

 Flowers yellow ; standard about equalling the wings. 



1. M. alba. 



2. M. officinalis. 



i. Melilotus alba Desv. White Melilot. White 

 Sweet-clover. Honey. Fig. 2472. 



Melilotus alba Desv. in Lam. Encycl. 4: 63. 1797- 

 M. vulgaris Willd. Enum. Hort. Berol. 790. 1809. 



Erect or ascending, 3-io high, branching, glabrous, 

 or the young twigs and leaves finely pubescent. Leaves 

 petioled, rather distant; leaflets oblong or slightly ob- 

 lanceolate, serrate, narrowed at the base, truncate, 

 emarginate or rounded at the apex, 6"-io" long, 2"-5" 

 wide ; stipules subulate ; racemes numerous, slender, 

 2'-4' long, often i-sided; pedicels i" long or less; flow- 

 ers white; standard 2"-2l" long, slightly longer than 

 the wings; pod ovoid, slightly reticulated, glabrous, ii" 

 long. 



In waste places, frequent throughout our area and in 

 the Southern States. Adventive or naturalized from Eu- 

 rope, and native also of Asia. White millet. Honey-lotus. 

 Cabul-, tree-, honey- or bokhara-clover. Leaves fragrant in 

 drying, as in other' species of the genus. June-Nov. 



