386 LEGUMINOSiE. Baptisia. 



centre. Legume about 2 inches long ; the stipe at length half an inch in 



length. This species much resmbles B. australis in habit and mode of 



growth. We have never received it from the Soutliern Atlantic States. 



10. B. alba. (R. Brown ?) : glabrous; branches slender, flexuous and w-ide- 

 ly spreading ; leaves on slender petioles ; leaflets (membranaceous) elliptical- 

 oblong, aciite at the base ; stipules and bracts subulate, minute, caducous ; 

 racemes elongated, slender, often nodding, on a long naked peduncle, pedicels 

 filiform, longer than the calyx (flowers white) ; legumes obovate, slightly 

 stipitate, much inflated.— 7?. Br. I. c. ? excl. syn. Bot. mag. ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 

 468 ; BC.prodr. 2. p. 100. Crotalaria alba, Linn. spec. 2. p. 716. Sophora 

 alba, Lin7i. syst. ; Reich, syst. 2. p. 242 ; IValt. ! Car. p. 135. Podalyria 

 alba, Willd. spec. 2. p. 503 ; Michx. ! fl. 1. p. 264 ; Pursh,Jl. 1. p. 308. 



In damp soil along streams, Virginia and N. Carolina! to Florida! 

 March-April.— Stem simple, 1-2 feet high, branching towards the summit. 

 Leaves scarcely turning blackish in diying: leaflets very pale and minutely 

 puberulent beneath : petioles nearly half the length of the leaflets. Flowers 

 smaUer than in B. leucantha. Teeth of the calyx short and broad ; the upper 

 one slightly emarginate. — The stem according to Linnaeus, and according to 

 Elliott the peduncles and branches, are deep purple, which is hardly the 

 case in dried specimens. Our B. leucantha was figured in the Botanical 

 Magazine under the name of Podalyria alba, since wliich it has been more 

 or less confounded with the present species ; which alone has slender often 

 nodding racemes, minute stipules, and leaves which may be compared with 

 those of Laburnum. 



11. B. megacarpa {Chapman', mss.) : glabrous; branches slender ; leaves 

 petioled ; leaflets oval, rather large, glaucous beneath ; stipules and bracts 

 subulate, minute, caducous; racemes short, on rather short peduncles; pedi- 

 cels longer than the calyx; flowers (yellow) nodding; legumes large, at 

 length subglobose, coriaceo-membranaceous, much inflated. 



Rich soils, Gadsden County, Middle Florida, Dr. Chapman ! May. — This 

 species resembles B. alba ; but has much larger and yellow flowers, as well 

 as shorter and fewer-flowered racemes, and larger leaves, which, like that 

 species, do not turn black in drying. We have not seen the ripe fruit of the 

 precedmg species : in the present the mature legumes are nearly globose and 

 1-li inch in diameter. — Dr. Engelmann informs us that, he has found either 

 this same, or more probably an allied species, in the prairies near Fort Gib- 

 son, Arkansas. 



12. B. tinctoria (R. Brown) : glabrous, much branched ; leaves nearly 

 sessile ; leaflets roundish-obovate or cuneiform ; stipules and bracts minute, 

 caducous ; racemes short, few-flowered, terminating the branches ; pedicels 

 naked, shorter than the (yellow) flowers; legumes small, subglobose, gla- 

 brous, raised on a long stipe. — R. Br. in, hart. Kew. 2 p. 6; Ell. sJc. I. p. 

 467; DC! proelr. 2. p. 100 ; HooTc.! fl. Bor.-Am. \.p. 129; Darlingt. fl. 

 Cest. p. iOi. Sophora tinctoria, Linn.! specie; Wall.! Car. I. c. Po- 

 dalyria tinctoria. Lam. ill. I. 327 ; Willd. I. c. ; Michx. ! fl. 1. p. 265 ; 

 Pursh,fl. l.p. 308,- Bot. Mag. t. 1099; Bigel.fl. Bast. eel. 2. p. 170. 



Dry hills, Canada ! to Florida! and west to the Mississippi. July-Sept. — 

 Stem about 2 feet high, bushy. Leaflets i-l inch long, rounded and often 

 emarginate at the apex. Flowers rather small. Valves of the legume boat- 

 shaped. — It is said that this plant will yield a considerable quantity of in- 

 ferior indigo ; whence the common name, Wild Indigo. 



13. B. Lecontii: minutely pubescent, much branched; leaves on short 

 petioles, the uppermost nearly sessile; leaflets obovate-oblong ; stipules 

 minute, subulate, caducous; racemes pedunculate, 5-10-flowered; bracts 



