62 PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



C Marylandica. L. Wild Senna. Stem 3-4 feet high, 

 erect, branched, smooth, with pinnate leaves in 8 or 9 pairs of 

 leafets ; large yellow flowers in axillary racemes, almost a panicle 

 towards the summit ; narrow, compressed legume ; blossoms in 

 June, grows on banks of streams, or in moist places, in open 

 fields. Medicinal. See Bigelow's " Medical Botany." 



Two other species, chamcBcrista, L., and niditans, L., are 

 smaller and handsome plants, of little consequence. 



Crotalaria. L. 15. 10. 



Calyx 5-parted, sublabiate, lower lip 3-cleft ; large cordate 

 standard ; united filaments, and swollen, inflated legume. 



C. sagittalis. L. Rattle Box. Stem a foot high, erect, 

 branched, variable pubescence ; simple oblong-lanceolate leaves, 

 with decurrent stipules ; 3-flowered racemes opposite the leaves, 

 and yellow corolla ; seeds rattle in the inflated, mature legume ; 

 blossoms in June, grows in dry grounds and sandy woods. 



Genista. Lam. 15. 10. 



Calyx 2-lipped, upper 2-parted, lower 3-toothed or 5-di- 

 vided ; standard oblong-oval, and keel straight ; stamens in one 

 set, with a flat legume. 



G. tinctoria. L. Dyer's Weed. This plant yields a fine 

 yellow color, and may have probably been introduced ; some- 

 what shrubby ; stem a foot high, much branched, and the upper 

 part covered with small, yellow, nearly sessile flowers ; leaves 

 lanceolate smooth ; blooms in July ; has covered the hills south 

 of Salem. Big. 



Medicago. L. 15. 10. 



M. lupulina. L. Nonesuch. Litroduced, and found in fields 

 about Boston ; said to be useful as fodder for sheep ; stem pro- 

 cumbent ; flowers in racemed spikes, with yellow petals ; legumes 

 reniform ; fields, June to August. 



M. scutellata. L. Cultivated in gardens for its beauty ; 



