PULSE FAMILY. 101 



5. LABURNUM. (Ancient Latin name. Genus separated from Cytisns 

 from the different appearance, and the seeds destitute of strophiole or append- 

 age at the scar.) 



L. vulgare, COMMON LABURNUM, GOLDEN-CHAIN, or BEAN-TKI.I OIL- 

 TREE of Europe. Planted for ornament, a low tree, with smooth green hark, 

 slender-petioled leaves of 3 oblong leaflets (2' -3' long), and pretty large showy 

 golden-yellow flowers hanging in long racemes, in late spring ; pods with ono 

 thicker edge. 



6. TRIGONELLA. (Old name, from Greek word for triangular, from the 

 shape of the corolla or the seeds.) Low herbs. T. C-&RU-LEA is the plant 

 used in Switzerland for imparting the flavor like that of Melilot to certain 

 kinds of cheese. ) 



T. Foenum-Grsecum, FENUGREEK. Occasionally cult, in gardens, in 

 Europe a forage and popular medicinal plant, strong-scented ; with wedge- 

 oblong leaflets, one or two nearly sessile small flowers in the axils, yellowish or 

 whitish corolla, and a linear long-pointed and somewhat curved pod 2' -4' long, 

 with veiny sides. 



7. MEDIC AGO, MEDICK. (The old name of Lucerne, because it came 

 to the Greeks from Media.) All natives of the Old World : a few have run 

 wild here. Fl. all summer. 



* Flowers violet-purple or bluish. 2/ 



M. sativa, LUCERNE or SPANISH TREFOIL. Cultivated for green fodder, 

 especially S. : stems erect, l-2 high, from a long deep root ; leaflets obovate- 

 oblong ; racemes oblong ; pod several-seeded, linear, coiled about 2 turns. 



* * Flowers yellow. @ @ 



M. lupulina, BLACK MEDICK, NONESUCH. A weed or pasture plant, in 

 dry or sandy fields, &v. : low, spreading, downy, with wedge-obovate leaflets, 

 roundish or at length oblong heads or spikes of small flowers, and little kidney - 

 shaped 1 -seeded pods turning black when ripe. 



M. maculata, SPOTTED M. Waste sandy places, S. & E. : spreading or 

 trailing; with broadly inversely heart-shaped leaflets marked with a dark >p"t, 

 3 - 5-flowered peduncles, and a flat pod compactly coiled three or more turns, 

 its tbickish edge beset with a double row of curved prickles. 



M. denticulata, like the last, but rarer, with pod of looser coils, shaq> 

 edge, and mostly shorter prickles. 



M. SCUtellata, SNAIL MEDICK, BEEHIVE. Cult, occasionally in gardens 

 for its curious pods, which are pretty large, coiled up like a snail-shell, in many 

 turns, smooth and even. 



8. MELILOTUS, MELILOT, SWEET CLOVER, (From Greek 

 words for honey and Lotus, i. e. Sweet Lotus: foliage sweet-scented, especially 

 in drying.) Natives of the Old World ; somewhat cult, in gardens, &c., and 

 running wild in waste or cultivated ground : fl. all summer. ' 



M. alba, WHITE M., BOKHARA or TREE CLOVER. Tall, 3 - 6 high, 

 jranching, with obovate or oblong leaflets truncately notched at the end, and 

 loose racemes of white flowers. Has been cult, for green fodder. 



M. officinalis, YELLOW M. Less tall, 2 -3 high, with merely blunt 

 leaflets and yellow flowers. 



9. TRIFOLIUM, CLOVER, TREFOIL. (Latin name : three leaflets.) 



* Low, iiifn'f/nifiraiit weeds, nat.from Europe in dry waste fields, $-c. 

 t- Flowers i/i/lou", in round heads, produced throiujh late summer and autumn, 

 reflexed and turning chestnut-brown, dry and papgry with aye. 



T. agrarium, YELLOW Hop-C. Smootbish, 6' - 12' high, with ohovatc- 

 oblong leaflets all nearly sessile on the end of the petiole ; heads rather lar;e. 



T. prociimbens, Low IIop-C. Smaller, spreading, rather downy, the 

 wedge-obovate leaflets notched at the end, the middle one at a littlo distance 

 from the others. 



