LEGUMINOS^ 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of roadsides, 

 along the wharves, near dwellings, in dump-heaps. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to five feet high, much 

 branched; the branches fairly erect; the stem hairless. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; compound, the leaflets oblong, 

 tending to oblanceolate, cut off, notched or rounded at the 

 apex, narrowed at the base, serrate; the whole leaf petioled. 



THE FLOWERS: in slender, one-sided racemes, which are 

 sometimes four inches long. 



THE FRUIT: an ovoid, hairless pod. 



A rank-growing plant, or a tall, stiffly branched bush 

 with small, dark green clover-like leaves. When in bloom 

 it proclaims its presence by the delicate fragrance of the 

 many tiny white flowers that pass down the stem in a one- 

 sided raceme, which is sometimes four inches long. 



It is a wholesome adventive for the garden patch. "As 

 a soil renovator," when the deep roots break up the ground, 

 aerating and draining it, it is useful as well as when, 

 decayed, it furnishes the soil with humus. On its roots 

 it bears "many tubercles which contain beneficent nitro- 

 gen-gathering bacteria. It is often used to prepare the 

 ground for alfalfa." Also, from it is made a valuable drug. 



LEGUMINOS^E PULSE FAMILY 



Medicago lupulina, L. 



Yellow Nonesuch, Melilot-trefoil, 



Beach Medick, Horned Clover, 

 July-September Black Trefoil, Hop Clover. 



Medicago: the Greek name for the alfalfa, which came to 



the Greeks from Media. 

 Lupulina: Latin diminutive for wolf. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil, frequently 

 about the wharves. 



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