272 Class XVII. Order IV. 



TRIFOHUM OFFICINALE. jL. Melilot. 



Legumes in racemes, naked, two seeded, wrinkled, 

 acute, stem erect. L. 



Syn. MELILOTUS OFFICINALIS. Pursh. 



Stem upright, furrowed, two feet high. Leafets oblong or 

 lance-obovate, serrate, smooth. Spikes axillary and terminal, 

 on footstalks, many flowered. Flowers nodding, mostly to one 

 side, yellow. Calyx and pedicels hairy. Pods pendulous, oval, 

 tapering at both ends, hairy. This trefoil in drying exhales an 

 agreeable scent, similar to the sweet scented vernal grass. 

 Horses are said to be very fond of it. June, July. It grows in 

 great plenty on the borders of the marsh at South Boston, where 

 it was probably inti'oduced from Europe. Flowers sometimes 

 white. 



292. LESPEDEZA. 

 LESPEDEZA CAPITATA. MX. Shrubby Lespedeza. 



Leaves ternate, lance-oblong, obtuse, silky beneath ; 

 stipules subulate ; racemes axillary, ovate, shorter than 

 the leaves ; legumes hairy, shorter than the calyx. 



Syn. HEDTSARUM FRUTESCENS. Willd. 



A slender, whitish, woody plant, found in dry woods at Brigh- 

 ton and elsewhere. Stems erect, covered with soft hair, very 

 leafy. Leaves on very short petioles ; leafets oblong, blunt, 

 mucronated, their upper surface smooth, under surface covered 

 with siken down, especially the edges and midrib. Racemes 

 ovate, hardly so long as the leaves, but projecting beyond them 

 on axillary footstalks. Calyx leaves long, lanceolate, pointed, 

 hairy enclosing the pods. September. 

 LESPEDEZA POLYSTACHYA. MX. Hairy Lespedeza. 



Leaves ternate, round-elliptic ; stipules subulate ; 

 racemes axillary, oblong, longer than the leaves ; le- 

 gumes hairy. Willd. 



Syn. HEDTSARVM HIRTUM. Willd. 



More frequent in woods than the last ; resembling it in colour 

 and habit. Stems simple, shrub like, whitish, hairy, two or 



