lilADEXrHIA. DECANDKIA. J05 



apoii a very long- peduncle; bractes broad and acuminate, 

 deciduous; carina very slioit; legume gibbous, and trans- 

 versely rugose. Hab' In Carolina and Florida, also com- 

 mon in the open forests of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, 

 Perennial. Stem aboijt 12 to 18 inches hiprh, grooved 

 and minutely strigose. Stipules cauline, linear, acumi- 

 nate; leaves ternate, without glands, a little pubescent, 

 central leaflet conspicuously petiolate. Spikes or racemes 

 in fruit 3 or 4 inches long, common peduncle 4 to 6 

 inches. Flowers pale violet, pedicellate, erect. Calix 

 pubescent, almost equally 5-cieft and strongly veined,, 

 without glands. Wings (or lateral petals) more than twice 

 the lengtb of the carina. Legume 1-seeded, naked and 

 transverse, the length of the calix; persistent style resu- 

 pinate. The entire absence of glands, the minuteness of 

 the carina, and the fruit, decide this plant to be a Melilotus, 

 to which genus it was long ago referred by Clayton; it is 

 at the same time the connecting link to Psoralea. 



An European genus, with a few species indigenous ta 

 Barbary and the Levant. 



504. TRIFOLlUxM. L. (Trefoil.) 



Flowers subcapitate. — Legume valveless> co» 

 vered by the calLx, 2 to 4-see(Ied. 



Herbaceous; leaves temate, rarely digitate; stipules ad- 

 nate to the base of the petiole, flower in T. prat^nse mo- 

 Hopetalous. 



Species. l.T. rejlexwn. 2. ?'e/>e7i5. Cultivated and natu- 

 ralized. 3, caroUnianum. 4. micro cephalum. Ph. In Cali- 

 fornia. 5. pratense. Cultivated and naturalized. 6. penmiil- 

 ■vanicum. 7. arvense. Native. 8. agruHum. 9.procnm' 

 bens. These 2 Jast are naturalised. 10. involucratum. 



11. * riegacephalum- Lupinaster macrQceplmlus. Ph. 2. 

 p. 479. t. 23. Leaflets by 7's, cuneate-lanceolate, petiole 

 very long, stipules cuneate, incisely 3-toothed; segments of 

 thecaljx setaceous, plumost; legume 3 to 4-seeded. Hab. 

 Near the sources of the. Missouri. Neitjier this species nor 

 2\ Lupinast&v appear to possess any single generic cha- 

 racter distinct from TrifoUxim. There can surely be no 

 generic character in leaves; but even here analogy is not 

 altc/gether wanting, as many genuine species of TrifoUum 

 ooicasionally produce more than 3 leaflets. 



A genus of near 80 species-, psrincipally indigenous to 

 Eurone. 



