366 LEGUMINOS^. Lespedeza. 



44. LESPEDEZA. Michx. Jl. 2. p. 70, t. 39 Sf iO. 



Calyx with 2 persistent bracteoles at its base, deeply 5-cleft ; the segments 

 linear-lanceolate or subulate, nearly equal, the two upper ones sometimes 

 more or less united. Corolla inserted into the base of the calyx : vexillum 

 roundish or oblong, somewhat unguiculate, more or less appendiculate at the 

 base by the inflexed margins : wings nearly straight, as long as the keel, 

 often auriculate at the base on one side, and, as well as the very obtuse 

 slightly curved keel-petals, on slender claws. Stamens diadelphous (9 & 

 1) : anthers uniform. Style filiform : stigma capitate. Legume lenticular, 

 mostly flat, small, reticulated, unarmed, indehiscent, 1-seeded. — Perennial 

 herbs or suffrutescent plants, with pinnately trifoliolate reticulated leaves. 

 Stipules setaceous or subulate : stipelles none. Flowers in axillary pedun- 

 culate spikes or racemes, and often with other apetalous and imperfect but 

 fertile ones, mostly in subsessile glomerules. Bracts minute, 3 together, 1- 

 2-flowered. 



§ 1. Flowers of tivo hinds, viz : perfect, although seldom maturing fruit ; and 

 fertile hut mostly destitute of stamens and petals ; the latter either on the 

 same few-flowered jjeduncles, or in subsessile glomerules : calyx slightly bila- 

 biate, the 2 sujjerior segments often united at the base : corolla violet and 

 purple, longer than the calyx : stems diffuse, procumbent, or erect. — 

 Eulespedeza. 



The fruit, in this section, is chiefly produced by the apetalous flowers, which are 

 small and commonly escape notice until the legumes are formed. The style, in 

 •these flowers, is short and hooked, as in Amphicarpsea and other analogous cases ; 

 and by this character the two kinds of legumes may be distinguished. The ovary 

 is not naked, as in Stylosanthes, Chapmannia, and other genera of this tribe, but is 

 surrounded by a calyx, and the rudiments of petals and filaments may sometimes be 

 detected. A knowledge of this circumstance will render our species much better un. 

 erstood than formerly. Authors have sometimes described the calyx from the apeta- 

 lous flowers, where it is mostly smaller, which has caused some discrepancies. Little 

 reliance is to be placed upon the degree of union of the two upper segments of the 

 calyx : in L. repens and L. procumbens they are sometimes united almost to the tip, 

 and again distinct nearly to the base. 



1. L. ])^ocumbens (Michx.) : tomentose-pubescent throughout except the 

 upper surface of the leaves, prostrate ; the branches assurgent ; leaflets oval 

 or elliptical, mostly retuse, the uppennost often obovate ; peduncles axillary, 

 simple, elongated, sometimes a little paniculate at the extremity of the 

 branches, few-flowered ; apetalous flowers occupying the lower 2)eduncles, 

 and also often subsessile in the axils of the lower leaves ; legumes minutely 

 pubescent, nearly orbicular. — Michx. ! Jl. 2. p. 70, t. 39 ; Pursh ! jl. 2. p. 

 481 ; Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 108 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 408 ; DC. ! prodr. 2. p. 350 ; 

 Darlingt. ! fl. Cest. p. 422. Hedysarum repens, Willd. ! sp. 3. p. 1200. H. 

 Lespedeza, Poir. diet, ex DC. 



Sandy soil, Massachusetts ! to Florida ! and Louisiana. Aug.-Sept. — 

 Stems several from the same root, 2-3 feet long, very densely pubescent with 

 soft spreading hairs. Petioles of the lower leaves as long as the leaflets ; 

 those of the branches often very short. Corolla purple tinged with violet. Le- 

 gumes pubescent, about IJ line in length and abiiost as wide as long.— We 

 have never observed a 2-jointed legume in this species. 



