PULSE FAMILY. 103 



12. AMORPHA, FALSE INDIGO. (Name, amorphous, wanting the 

 ordinary form, from the absence of four of the petals.) There are usually 

 little stipels to the leaflets. Fl. summer. 



A. fl'Utic6sa, COMMOX A. River-banks from 1'enn. S. & W. ; a tall or 

 middle-sized shrub, sinoothish, with petioled leaves of 15-2.") oval or oblong leaf- 

 lets, violet or purple flowers in early summer, and mostly 2-secdcd pods. 



A. herbacea (but it is not an herb) of low pine-barrens S., 2 -4 high, 

 often downy, has the leaflets more rigid, dotted, and crowded, villous calvx- 

 teeth, later blue or white flowers, and 1 -seeded pods. 



A. canescens, called LEAD-PLANT ; in prairies and on rocky banks W. 

 and S. W. ; l-3 high, hoary with soft down, with sessile leaves of 29-51 

 elliptical leaflets, sinoothish above when old, violet-purple flowers in late summer, 

 and 1 -seeded pods. 



13. PSORALEA. ( Greek word for scurfy, from the ronghish dots or glands 

 on the leaves, calyx, &e.) Wild S. & W. : 11. early summer, violet, bluish, 

 or almost white, y. 



* Leaves pinnatcly 3-folioIate, i. e. the side-leaflets a link Mow the apr.r of the 

 common petiole, or the uppermost of a simjle leajht. 



P. Onobrychis. River-banks, Ohio to Illinois and . : 3 - 5 high, 

 nearly smooth, with lance-ovate taper-pointed leaflets 3' long, small flowers in 

 short-peduneled racemes 3' - 6' long ; pods rough and wrinkled. 



P. melilotqides. Dry places, W. & S. : l-2 high, somewhat pubes- 

 cent, slender, with lanceolate or lance-oblong leaflets, oblong spikes on long 

 peduncles, and strongly wrinkled pods. 



* * Leaves digitate, of 3 - 7 leaflets. 



P. Lupinellus. Dry pine-barrens S. : smooth and slender, with 5-7 very 

 narrow or thread-shaped leaflets, small flowers in loose racemes, and obliquely 

 wrinkled pods. 



P. floribunda. Prairies from Illinois S. W. : bushy-branched and slen- 

 der, 2 -4 high, somewhat hoary when young, with 3-5 linear or obovate- 

 oblong much dotted leaflets, small flowers in short panicled racemes, and glan- 

 dular-roughened pods. 



P. canescens. Dry barrens S. E. Bushy-branched, 2 high, hoary- 

 pubescent, with .3 (or upper leaves of single) obovate leaflets, loose racemes of 

 few flowers, and a smooth pod. 



P. argophylla. Prairies N. W., mostly across the Mississippi, widely 

 branched, l-3 high, silvery white all over with silky hairs, with 3-5 broad- 

 lanceolate leaflets and spikes of rather few largish flowers. 



P. esculenta, POMME BLANCHE of the N. W. Voyagcurs ; the turnip- 

 shaped or tuberous mealy root furnishing a desirable food to the Indians N. W. : 

 low and stout, 5' -15' high, roughish hairy, with 5 lance-oblong or obovate 

 leaflets, a dense oblong spike of pretty large (' long) flowers, and a hairy 

 winted pod. 



.4. ONOBRYCHIS, SAINFOIN. (Name from Greek, means Asses- 

 food. ) 



O. sativa, COMMON S. Sparingly cult, from Europe as a fodder plant, 

 but not quite hardy N. ; herb l-2 high, with numerous oblong small leaf- 

 lets, brown and thin pointed stipules, and spikes of light pink flowers on long 

 axillary peduncles, in summer, the little semicircular pod bordered with short 

 prickles or teeth. J 



15. STYLOSANTHES, PENCIL-FLOWER. (Name from Greek 

 words for column and flmrer, the calyx being raised on its stalk-like base. 

 The application of the popular name is not obvious. ) 



S. elatior, of pine-barrens from New Jersey and Illinois S., is an incon- 

 spicuous low herb, in tufts ; the wiry stems downy on one side ; leaflets lan- 

 ceolate, with strong straight veins ; flowers orange-yellow, small, in little 

 clusters or heads, in late summer, y. 



