long, often 2-3 cm. long, glabrous, green; stipels absent; flowers in axillary 

 racemes usually shorter than the foliage; peduncle 1-12 cm. long; each flower 

 subtended by a caducous bract; calyx closely subtended by a pair of caducous 

 bractlets, the broadly campanulate tube usually broader than high and regular 

 or nearly so; calyx lobes much shorter than the tube, nearly equal, deltoid, acute; 

 corolla papilionaceous, yellowish, red to orange, 6-20 mm. long; banner reflexed, 

 longer that the other petals, the blade suborbicular, the claw short; wing blades 

 oblanceolate to oblong, the claws a fourth to a third as long as the blade; keel 

 petals auriculate, strongly arching, with elongate claws about as long as the 

 blades; stamens diadelphous, 9 of the filaments coalescent basally, the tenth 

 (uppermost) one free; fruit a dry elongate linear 2-valved or 4-sided or 4-winged 

 dehiscent or indehiscent pod. Daiibcntonia DC; Glottidium Desv. 



A genus with about 40 species in the tropical and subtropical regions of both 

 hemispheres, usually growing in seasonally wet places, in river bottoms and 

 overflow lands. They are troublesome weeds in the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain 

 rice fields. 



1. Peduncle 5-12 cm. long; flowers 6-9 mm. long; pods with 2 seeds 



1. S. vesicaria. 



1. Peduncle 1-5 cm. long; flowers 10-20 mm. long; pods with several to many 



seeds (rarely 2 by abortion) (2) 



2(1). Racemes of 2 to 6 flowers; pods elongate, linear, not winged 



..; 2. S. macrocarpa. 



2. Raceme of 10 to 30 flowers; pods short, thickened, 4-winged 



3. S. Drummondii. 



1. Sesbania vesicaria (Jacq.) Ell. Bag-pod, bladder pod. Fig. 500. 



Annual herb; leaves 10-15 cm. long; leaflets 20 to 40 (to 52), 1-4 cm. long, 

 3-6 mm. broad; peduncle 5-12 cm. long; flowers 6-9 mm. long; corolla yellowish 

 or tinged with pink or red; stipe of legume 1-2 cm. long, 1-1.5 mm. thick; 

 legume body oblong to ellipsoid, 25-80 mm. long, 15-20 mm. thick, the valves 

 separating at maturity into 2 layers (the outer thicker, the inner thin and papery- 

 membranous); legume beak about 5-7 mm. long. Glottidium vesicarium (Jacq.) 

 Harper. 



Frequent, in s.e. Okla. (Waterfall) and e. third of Tex. w. to Palo Pinto, 

 Erath, Bastrop, Gonzales, Karnes and San Patricio cos., Aug.-Sept.; Coastal 

 States, N.C. to Tex.; also W.I. Perhaps adv. on the continent from the W.I. 



2. Sesbania macrocarpa Muhl. Bequilla, Colorado River hemp. Fig. 501. 



Robust annual 7-40 dm. tall, rather gracefully ascending with few or no 

 branches or occasionally with some wide-spreading branches; leaves 1-3 dm. 

 long; leaflets up to 70, mostly 1-3 cm. long and 2-6 mm. broad; peduncle 2-4 

 cm. long; flowers 11-16 mm. long, yellow; legume linear, glabrous, 1-2 dm. long, 

 3-4 mm. broad, 1 mm. thick, with much-thickened sutures and a beak 5-10 mm. 

 long; seeds 30 to 40. Sesbania exaltata (Raf.) A. W. Hill. 



Infrequent or locally abundant, in e. and s.e. Okla. (Waterfall) and e. third 

 of Tex., w. to Denton, Tarrant, Travis, Hays, Comal, San Patricio and Cameron 

 COS.. Aug.-Oct.; Fla. to Tex. and n. to Mo.; locally waifed in n.e. U.S. 



3. Sesbania Drummondii (Rydb.) Cory. Rattlebush, poison bean, coffee bean. 



Shrub (in the north extremity of distribution the branches often die back dur- 

 ing the winter, only the lowest part of the plant remaining alive and becoming 

 woody) 4-30 dm. tall; leaves mostly 1-2 dm. long; leaflets 20 to 50, mostly 15-35 

 mm. long and 4-7 mm. broad; peduncle 1-5 cm. long; flowers 13-16 rtim. long, 

 yellow (often with red lines); pod often 5-6 cm. long, about 1 cm. broad, short- 



1059 



