348 Pennell: Plants of southern United States 



Chamaecrista camporum Greene, Pittonia 5: 108. 1903- "Type 

 specimens collected by myself at Monticello, Illinois, 7 August, 

 1899." Type not seen nor verified, but description evidently 

 of this species. 



Cassia Chamaecrista L. (Sp. PI. 379. 1753. "Habitat in 

 Jamaica, Barbados, Virginia") is composite, and should be typified 

 by " Chamae Crista pavonis americana, siliqua multiplici," Breyn. 

 Cent. 66: pi. 24, from Curasao. This is the species usually known 

 as Cassia diffusa DC, an ally of C. nictitans L. The Linnaean diag- 

 noses, here, in Hort. Ups. loi, 1748, and in Hort. Cliff. 158, 1737, 

 will apply to this, the phrase "glandula petioli pedicellata" di- 

 rectly excluding our plant. 



Annual. Stem erect, 3-9 dm. tall, much branched, puberulent 

 in lines with ascending incurved hairs. Stipules linear-attenuate, 

 glabrous or nearly so, ciliate, many-nerved, 5-10 mm. long. 

 Petioles 5-8 mm. long, puberulent with incurved hairs. Petiolar 

 gland single, near middle or toward distal end of petiole, sessile 

 or nearly so, depressed saucer-shaped, round or slightly oval, 

 0.5-1.5 mm. wide, dark brown to brown. Leaflets six to twelve 

 (or fifteen) pairs, 10-20 mm. long, 2-5 mm. wide, oblong-linear, 

 obtuse to acute, shortly mucronulate to mucronate, glabrous 

 (rarely very finely puberulent), finely ciliolate, paler beneath, 

 evidently nerved. Bracteoles 3-5 mm. long, linear-attenuate. 

 Pedicels one to six in a fascicle, 10-20 mm. long, finely or sparsely 

 puberulent with incurved (rarely somewhat spreading, then short) 

 hairs. Sepals 9-12 mm. long, lanceolate-acuminate, more or less 

 pubescent on the midrib. Petals 10-17 mm. long, anterior slightly 

 exceeding laterals. Stamens ten, unequal, two longer ; anthers 8-10 

 mm. long, yellow or reddish (especially southwestsvard) . Legumes 

 4-5 cm. long, 5-5.5 mm. wide, appressed-puberulent or glabrate 

 on the sides, with a beak usually short but reaching 1.5 mm. long. 

 Seeds six to fifteen, 3-3.2 mm. long. 



Moist to dry, usually sandy, open places, southeastern Massa- 

 chusetts to Florida and central Texas, inland to northern Ohio, 

 southern Minnesota and central Kansas. Abundant in many 

 parts of the southeast, especially in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. 

 Northeast of Virginia, rare above the Fall Line, on the Serpentine 

 and occasionally elsewhere in southeastern Pennsylvania. 



Variable, and doubtless hybridizes with allied species. South- 

 eastward probably passes into the little-known ^variety 7 south- 

 ward through the lower Alleghenies and the lower Mississippi 

 valley passes into the very pronounced variety (3. 



