394 LEGUMINOS^, Cassia. 



Trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants, with simply abruptly pinnate leaves : 

 the leaflets opposite. Flowers mostly yellow. 



§ 1. Sepals mostly obtuse : stamens unequal ; the lower ones with thick quad- 

 rangular fertile anthers, opening by 2 pores at the apex ; the 3 upper sterile, 

 smaller and deformed : legume cylindrical or somewhat compressed, woody 

 or somewhat membranaceous, scarcely dehiscent, many-celled bjy transverse 

 partitions : seeds compressed, all {or at least the Icncer ones) horizontal \i. e. 

 transverse with respect to the valves). — Cham^fistula, DC. ; Vogel. 



* Legume membranaceous, someivhat compressed, but tumid; the upper seeda 

 sometimes vertical, the lower always horizontal. — Oucolobium, Vogel. 



1. C. qccidenlalis (Linn.) : annual, erect, branched, glabrous ; leaflets 6- 

 12, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, very acute or acuminate, somewhat ciliate ; 

 petiole with a sessile obtuse gland at the base ; racemes axillary, 3-5-flow- 

 ered, much shorter than the leaves, those at the summit of the branches 

 somewhat panicled ; legumes long, with a tumid border, glabrous. — Linn. ! 

 spec. 1. p. 377 ,• Michx. ! fl. 1. p. 261 ; Bot. reg. t. 83 ; Ell. sic. 1. p. 471 ; 

 Audub. birds of Amer. t. 35 ; W. S^- Am. prodr. Ind. Or. 1. p. 290 ; Vogel, 

 l. c. p. 21. C". Carohniana, Walt. Car. p. 134. C ciUata, Raf. fl. Ludov. 

 C. linearis, Michx. ? Ell. I. c. ? 



Near buildings, &c., Virginia! and South Carolina! to Louisiana! July. 

 — Stem 4-6 feet high. Leaflets usually about 5 pairs, serrulately ciliolate. 

 Stipules deciduous. Petals large, yellow, not spotted. Legume somewhat 

 coriaceous, about 5 inches long, 30-50-seeded. 



§ 2. Sepals obtuse : anthers of the loiccr stamens fertile, thick and quadran- 

 gular, opening by 2 j)ores at the apex ; the 2-3 upper ones smaller, sterile 

 and deformed : legume compressed, narrow, many-celled with membranous 

 transverse partitions, membranaceous : seeds vertical (i. e. compressed 

 parallel with the valves), their longer diameter in the same direction with the 

 legume. — Prososperma, Vogel. 



2. C. obtusifolia (Linn.) : annual, branching, nearly glabrous ; leaflets 6 

 or rarely 4, obovate, obtuse, slightly mucronate, a little pubescent beneath 

 when young ; a cyUndraceous gland between the two lower pairs ; stipules 

 linear-subuiate, arcuate, rather deciduous ; legimies verj- long and narrow, 

 glabrous, quadrangular-compressed, recurved. — Linn. spec. 1. p. 377 ; DC. 

 I. c. ; Fogel, I. c. 'p. 24. C. foetida, &c.. Dill. Elth. t. 72, f. 72. 



/?. humilis (Vogel) : gland single between the lower pair of leaflets. — C. 

 humilis, Colladon, rnonosr. ; DC. I. c. C. Tora, Walt. ! I. c. ; Pursh,fl. 1. 

 p. 305; Ell.sk. \. p. 471. 



In dry soils, S. Carolina ! to Florida ! west to the Canadian Rivei, Ark- 

 ansas, Dr. James ! July-Oct. — Stem 4-5 inches to 3 feet in height. Leaf- 

 lets scarcely ciflolate. Legumes about 6 inches long, recurved-arcuate. — As 

 the legumes of our plant are always recurved, it belongs to C. obtusifolia, 

 but we know not whetlier the otlier distinctions between it and C Tora are 

 constant. 



§ 3 Sepals obtuse : anthers of the lower stamens fertile, tidck and quadran- 

 gular, opening by 2 pores at the apex: the 3 upper sterile and deformed: 

 legume compressed, more or less many-celled tvith transverse partitions. 



