298 LEGUMINOS^. Indigofera. 



echinate, dehiscent?, 1-4-seeded. — Perennial herbs : roots sweet. Leaves un- 

 equally pinnate. Racemes spicate, many-flowered. Flowers white, violet, 

 or blue. — Liquorice. 



1. G. lepidota (Nutt.): leaflets oblong-lanceolate, acute, minutely striijose 

 with glandular scales beneath; stipules linear-subulate ; spikes pedunculate, 

 nearly the length of the leaves; bracts lanceolate, acuminate; legumes 

 densely beset with hooked bristles, 2-6-seeded. — Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 106 ; Bot. 

 mag. t. 2150 ; DC. I. c. ; Hook. f. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 138. 



On the Missouri, from near St. Louis ! and Arkansas ! to Oregon ! and 

 north to the Saskatchawan. — Roots long and creeping, with the taste of 

 liquorice. Stem 2-5 feet high. Flowers whitish. Legume resembling the 

 fruit of Xanthium spinosum, but rather smaller. — Mr. Nuttall remarks that 

 this species is very nearly allied to G. fcetida of Northern Africa; and Hook- 

 er, on comparing the the two plants, could find no distinguishing character. 



2. G. gliitinosa (Nutt. mss.) : "leaflets oblong and oblong-lanceolate, stri- 

 gose with scaly glands; stems and calyx pubescent with glandular hairs; 

 spikes pedunculate, much shorter than the leaves ; bracts with a long acumi- 

 nate point ; calyx nearly equal. 



" Banks of Lewis's River, with the preceding, which it closely resembles : 

 but the calyx and stems, as well as peduncles, are thicklv covered with gland- 

 lar hairs, and the peduncles are scarcely half the length of the leaves." Nuttall. 



24. INDIGOFERA. Linn.; Lam. ill. t. 626; GcBrtn.fr. t. 148; DC. 

 prodr. 2. p. 221 ; W. ^ Am. prodr. Ind. Or. 1. p. 198. 



Calyx 5-cleft ; segments acute. Vexillum roundish, cmarginate : keel 

 furnished with a subulate spur on each side, at length often bending back 

 elastically. Stamens diadelphous. Style filiform, glabrous. Legume con- 

 tinuous, 2-valved, 1-many-seeded. Seeds usually truncated, often separated 

 by cellular spurious partitions. — Herbaceous or shrubby plants. Leaves va- 

 rious, usually unequally pinnate or digitate : hairs, either all or some of them, 

 appressed and attached by their middle. Stipules small, not united with the 

 petiole. Flowers in axillary racemes, purple, blue, or white ; many of the 

 upper ones of each raceme frequently becoming abortive. — Indigo-plant. 



1. /. Caroliniana (Walt.) : stem herbaceous, erect, with terete branches, 

 leaves on short petioles, unequally pirmate; leaflets 5-7 pairs, oval-oblong, 

 petiolulate, clothed with a sparse appressed pubescence ; racemes slender, 

 longer than the leaves ; legumes pendulous, oblong, turgid, about 2-seeded, 

 reticulatelv m^o^e.— Walt. fl. Car. p. 187 ; Michx.! Jl. 2. p. 68; Ell. sk. 2. 

 p. 244 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 229. 



Dry sterile soils. North Carolina ! to Florida! July-Sept. — If Stem 3-7 

 feet high, branched. Leaflets nearly an inch long, obtuse or retuse, mu- 

 cronate, somewhat glaucous beneath. Racemes 3-6 inches long. Flowers 

 pediceUate, one-third of an inch long. Calyx very small; teeth short, acute. 

 Corolla yellowish-brown: vexillum ovate, hairy : keel and wings glabrous. 

 Legume nearly glabrous, 4-5 lines long, pointed with the base of the style. 



2. /. leptosepala (Nutt ! mss.) ; rough and cinereous with appressed hairs; 

 stem herbaceous, decumbent ; leaves unequaHy pinnate, on short petioles ; 

 leaflets 3-4 pairs, obovate-oblong or cuneiform, nearly sessile, somewhat gla- 

 brous on the upper surface ; racemes pedunculate, longer than the leaves, 

 6-15-flowered, the flowers nearly sessile ; calyx deeply parted ; the segments 

 attenuate-subulate, equal 5 legumes linear^ reflexed, somewhat quadrangular 



