PEA FAMILY (PULSE FAMILY) 107 



CLOVERS AND THEIR ALLIES 



Several introduced plants that are closely allied to the 

 clovers are occasionally found on roadsides and in waste 

 places in the peninsula. They are of low growth, with 

 three-foliate leaves, and have very small flowers. 



Medic, or bur-clover, Medicago denticulata, has small 

 wedge-shaped leaflets, clusters of two to five yellow flowers, 

 and peculiar little prickly seedpods twisted into a flat 

 coil. 



Melilot, Melilotus indica, has slender, many-flowered 

 racemes, narrow or oblong leaflets, and tiny oval or round- 

 ish seedpods. 



The cultivated clovers, TrifoUum, and alfalfa, are oc- 

 casionally seen on roadsides, but are less common in the 

 peninsula than they are farther north. 



Indigo (Genus Indigofera) 



A tall wild indigo, /. caroUniana, with many slender 

 branches, delicate pinnate leaves of small leaflets about one- 

 half inch long, and narrow racemes of pale reddish flowers 

 one-fourth of an inch in length, is common in high pine- 

 lands, and, like many other plants of similar location, has 

 an extremely long root. The flowers show an interesting 

 explosive mechanism, and when the pollen is ready to be 

 scattered, a light touch will release the horizontal wings 

 and the keel, which suddenly separate and spring backward 

 while the cluster of stamens is shot upward. 



Besides native herbaceous plants of this genus we have 

 two introduced species of shrubby growth, L tinctoria and 

 /. Anil, which escaped from cultivation when indigo was 

 one of the products of the South. 



Indigofera caroliniana. Flowers reddish or yellowish 

 brown, small, in axillary racemes. Seedpods drooping, small. 

 Stems 3-6 ft. tall. Leaflets 9-15, small, oblong or oval. Dry 

 pinelands. Blooming in spring and summer. Fla. to N. C 



