354 LEGUMINOS^. Stylosanthes. 



1. Z. tetraphyUa (Michx.) : perennial ; leaflets 4, oblong or lanceolate ; 

 bracts glabrous, as long as the legumes, 5-nervcd; kgumcs aculeate with re- 

 tror.sely scabrous prickles. — Michx.! fi. 2. p. 76; Pnrsh, fl. 2. p. 484; Ell. 

 sk. 2. p. 219; DC. prodr.2. p. 317. Z. bracteata, Gmel. syst. ;p. 1096. 

 Anonyuios bracteata, Walt. Car. p. 181. Hedysarum tetraphyllum, haw,, 

 diet. 2. p. 405, not of Thunb. 



Dry sandy soils. North Carolina! to Florida! and west to Texas ! June- 

 Aug. — "Root somewhat cylindrical and tuberous." Ell. Stems prostrate 

 and diffuse, 1-2 feet long. Leaflets 6-10 lines long, acute at each end; 

 those of the lowest leaves sometimes obovate. Racemes axillary, much 

 longer than the leaves, 5-9-flowered, the fioAvers distant. Bracts broadly- 

 ovate, nearly covering the flowers. Calyx much smaller than the corolla, 

 ciliate; upper lip strongly emarginate ; the lower with 3 acute teeth. Vexil- 

 lum reniform : wings broadly obovate, as long as the vexilium : keel-petals 

 cohering at the back, rather acute, somewhat longer than the wings. Le- 

 gume about i' of an inch long, 2-4-jointed. Seeds oval, hght brown. Co- 

 tyledons flattish. Radicle curved. 



39. STYLOSANTHES. Swartz ; Lam.ill. t. 627; DC.j)rodr. 2.^.317. 



Flowers of two kinds intermixed ; the one kind complete but sterile ; the 

 other achlamydeous and fertile. Sterile Fl. Calyx somcAvhat bilabiate, 

 with 2 bracteoles at the base ; the tube very long and slender; upper lip 2- 

 cleft, the segments obtuse ; lower lip with 3 acute segments. Corolla insert- 

 ed in the throat of the calyx : vexilium very broad : keel cymbiform, small, 

 entire at the apex. Stamens monadelphous: anthers alternately linear and 

 ovate. Ovary sessile, with 2-3 ovules, always sterile : style filiform, very 

 long: stigma capitate, minute, glabrous. — Fertile fl. consisting of a ses- 

 sile ovary between 2 bracteoles, with 1-2 ovules : style short and recurved. 

 Legume l-2jointed; the upper joint acuminate and uncinate with the per- 

 sistent style ; the lower usually abortive. , Seeds ovate. Embryo curved or 

 sometimes nearly straight. — Small herbaceous or suffruticose plants. Stems 

 branched. Leaves pinnately trifoliolate. Stipules adnate to the petiole. 

 Spikes terminal, imbricated with stipules and bracts. 



Mr. Bentham, in apaper on the affinities of Arachis, rend before the Linnrean 

 Society in May, 1838, gives an account of the two kinds of flowers in Stylosainhes, 

 and shows its affinity to Arachis, which he considers a genuine Hedysarea. 



1. S. elatior (Swartz): herbaceous; stem erect or procumbent, pubes- 

 cent on one side ; leaflets lanceolate, glabrous ; spikes few-flowered ; bracts 

 and uppermost leaflets lanceolate, spinulose-ciUate; legume 2-joinled, the 

 lower joint sterile and stipiliform. — S^cai^tz, in act. Holm- 1789, i. 11, f. 2, 

 ex DC. prodr. 2. p. 318; Willd. sp. 3. p. 1167; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 106; Ell. 

 sk. 2. p. 203. S. hispida, Michx..' Ji. 2. p. 75, not ot Richard. Arachis 

 aprica, Walt. Car. p. 182. Trifolium biflorum,Z/»??2. 



fi.hispidissima{M\c]\yi.\ i.e.): stem hispid ; leaflets spinulose-ciliate. 



Dry sandy soils, particularly in pine barrens. Long Island! to Florida! 

 west to Arkansas ! p. Carolina, Michavx ! Alabama, Dr. Gates ! June- 

 Aug. — Stems 6-12 inches long, ca;spitosc, Avith a broad pubescent line on 

 one side. Leaves on short petioles : leaflets about one inch long, acute at 

 each end, mucronate, the veins beneath very prominent : upper leaves often 

 1-foliolate. Spikes 2-4-flowered, one or two oi the lowest floAvers destitute cf 

 calyx, corolla and stamens. Ovary attenuated at the base, 2-ovuled. Le- 



