396 LEGUMINOS^. Cassia. 



i. hirsutely villous (the leaflets linear-elliptical and glabrous), stout ; flow- 

 ers very large ; the two lower petals spotted near the base ; anthers all 

 blackish-purple. 



£. softly villous (the leaflets pubescent ;) two of the petals a little spotted at 

 the base ; anthers mostly i)ur])lish at the base ; legumes (young) softly 

 villous. 



^. cinereous-pubescent, much branched ; flowers rather smaller ; 2-4 of 

 the petals purplish at the base; anthers slightly unequal, all purple. — C. 

 cinerea, Cham. Isf Schlecht. in Lhino'n, 5. j?. 599 ? 



In dry sandy soil, Massachusetts ! and New York ! to Florida ! Louisia- 

 na ! Texas ! and west to the Canadian River, Dr. James ! i. Mountains of 

 Kentuck}^ Dr. Short ! c. Louisiana, Dr. Hale ! ^. Texas, Drummond ! 

 July— Sept. — Flowers bright yellow, large and showy. — None of our speci- 

 mens wholly accord with the C. fasciculata, Michx. We have glabrous 

 fomis with yellow anthers ; but in these two of tlie petals are always more 

 or less spotted with jiurple. The var. i, is verj- large in all its parts : e. is 

 smaller, but clothed throughout with remarkably soft villous hairs ; the var. 

 ^. has the stem, leaves, calyx, &c. more or less cinereous-pubescent, the 

 flowers are rather smaller, and the pedicels sometimes shorter. — Sensitive 

 Pea. Partridge-Pea. 



6. C. nictitans (Linn.) : annual, erect or decumbent, somewhat pubes- 

 cent ; leaflets 12-30, oblong-linear, obtuse, mucronate, somewjiat oblique at 

 the base ; gland beneath the lowest pair of leaflets slightly pedicellate ; sti- 

 pules and bracts broadly subulate, striate, persistent ; fascicles supra-axillan,', 

 2-3-flowered ; the pedicels very short, bracteolate ; flowers small ; sepals 

 acuminate ; stamens 5, nearly equal; style very short. — Linn. ! I. c. S^-hort. 

 Cliff, t. 36 ; Michx. ! I. c. ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 474 ; DC. ! I. c. ; Darlingt. fl. 

 Cest. -p. 432 ; Vogel, I.e. p. 62. C. procumbens, Willd. (as to the North 

 American plant.) 



p. aspera : stem and legumes hirsute with spreading hairs ; stamens 7-9 ; 

 ovaries very villous. — C. aspera, Ell.! sk. l.p. 474. 



In old fields and dry sandy soil, Massachusetts ! and New York ! to 

 Florida! and Louisiana! /?. JEding's Island, near Beaufort, S.Carolina, 

 Elliott ! July-Sept. — Pedicels shorter than the flowers. Petals small, not 

 spotted. Anthers rather short, mostly all purple. Legume somewhat 

 hairy. — Readily distinguished by its veVy siiiall flowers, short pedicels, &c. 

 The C. aspera of Elliott seems to be nothing but a variety of this: in the 

 specimen from his herbarium which we have examined, the anthers are mostly 

 purple. The leaves in this and the preceding are very sensitive ; whence 

 the two species are popularly called Sensitive Pea. 



C. ligustrina (Linn.) was founded on a West Indian plant rC. ligustri folio, 

 Plumier ; Dill. Elth. ?. 269, /. 338), to which the reference to Qronov. Virg. 

 (which belongs properly to C. Marilandica) was wrongly adduced It seems 

 not to be a native of N. America; and Pursh lias, as we think, inaAvcrtently 

 added the mark v. u., stating that it grows in cultivated grounds from Virginia 

 to Georgia. 



C. {Chammsenna) anirustisiliqua (Lam.), or a species nearly allied to this, was 

 collected in Key West by Mr. Bennett, but the specimen is too incomplete for 

 satisfactory determination. The gland is very large and thick, commonly placed 

 towards the base of the petiole, but sometimes between the lowest pair of leaflets. 

 VVe have not seen the fruit. 



