PULSE FAMILY 



A wand-like, light grey-green plant that is another 

 example of the effect of the strong winds over the Com- 

 mons, for elsewhere the plant is erect; here the green 

 branches often are almost prostrate, forming a rosette on 

 the ground. All through the winter and even during the 

 summer, the dead flower stalks with brown withered heads, 

 stand erect. 



LEGUMINOSJE PULSE FAMILY 



Lespedeza procumbens, Michx. 



Purple-magenta or magenta-pink 



Trailing Bush Clover. 

 August-September 



Lespedeza: for derivation see capitata. 

 Procumbens: Latin for low-lying. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons. 



THE PLANT: trailing; stems twelve inches to twenty-four 

 inches long, with soft, short hairs. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; palmately three-compound, leaf- 

 lets oval or elliptic, obtuse at the apex, rounded at the 

 base; petioles shorter than the leaves. 



THE FLOWERS: in clusters in the axils of the leaves, pea- 

 shaped. 



THE FRUIT: a pod. 



The showiest and the prettiest of the Bush Clover group. 

 The tiny, purple-magenta flowers are scattered toward the 

 ends of the long branches, that spread in fosettes on the 

 ground and the small leaves are clover-like. 



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