PsoHALEA. LEGUMINOS^. 299 



or nearly terete, straight and even, 6-9-seeded. — I. n. sp. Torr. .' in ann. 

 lye. New- York, 2. p. 170. 



Plains of Arkansas, Nultall ! Dr. James ! Dr. Tjeavemcorth ! also Geor- 

 gia, Nnttall! — U " Root penetralini? deeply, flagellate. Stems procumbent. 

 2-3 feet long. Stipules subulate, minute. Leaves very much like those ot 

 the Common Indigo; strigose and almost hoary beneath. Flowers pale 

 scarlet. Legumes pubescent, an inch and a half long, acuminated by the 

 persistent style." Null, 



25. PSORALEA. Linn.; Lam. ill. i. 614 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 21C. 



Calyx campanulate, persistent, 5-cleft, often glandular ; segments acumi- 

 nate, the lowest one somewhat longest. Stamens usually diadelphous, the 

 tenth filament sometimes united with the others at the base. Legurne about 

 the length of the calyx, indehiscent, 1-seeded, sometimes beaked. — Shrubby or 

 perennial herbaceous plants, usually dotted or almost tuberculate with glands. 

 Leaves various, usually pinnately or palmately 3-5-foliolate. Stipules co- 

 hering with the base of the petiole. Flowers purple, blue, or white, usually 

 in axillary spikes or racemes. 



In all the North American Psoraleje the filaments (except the upper one) are uni- 

 ted their whole length, forming a 9-toothed stamineal sheath; the aUernate teeth 

 shorter ; and often only 5 of the antlicrs are perfect. 



♦ Leaves palmately Z-b-foliolate. 



1. P. lanceolata (Pursh) : nearly glabrous; stems assurgent. often dicho- 

 tomous, erect; leaves 3-foliolate, dotted (as likewise the calyx) with black 

 gland 5 ; leaflets linear-lanceolate or elliptical ob!ong, rather obtuse, slightly 

 mucronate, sessile ; peduncles longer than the leaves ; spikes capitate, many- 

 flowered; bracts deciduous; teeth of the calyx minute, acute, nearly equal ; 

 legumes globose, hirsute. — Pursh! Jl. 2. p. 475 ; Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 

 135, t. 51. P. elliptica, Pursh! I. c. P. arenaria. Null.'! gen. 2. p. 103; 

 DC. prodr. 2. j>. 219. 



Sterile sandy soils above the Platte, and west to the Pacific, Lewis! 

 (v. s. in herb. Lamb.) Nuttall! Douglas. — Plant slightly hirsute with ap- 

 pressed hairs. Leaflets about an inch long, variable in breadth, narrowed 

 downward, the lower ones broader. Raceme 8-10-flowered. Flowers white 

 tinged with blue. Legume as large as a pea. 



2. P. laxiflora (Nutt. mss.) : " sparingly glandular ; young shoots pubes- 

 cent: stem dichotomous ; stipules minute ; leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets sessile, 

 long and linear, or somewhat oblong, apiculate ; peduncles longer than the 

 leaves; spikes short, with the flowers somewhat distant; calyx small and 

 pulescent, the teeth obtuse. 



" Plains of the Platte. — Resembles the preceding, but the spikes are larg- 

 er, the bracts very minute and the leaves longer." Nuttall. 



3. P. tenuiflora (Pursh) : nearly glabrous and conspicuously dotted with 

 blackish glands; ?tem diffuse, with the branches slender ; leaves 3-foliolate ; 

 leaflets oblong-elliptical, obtuse ; racemes filiform, lew-flowered, interrupted ; 

 seo-ments of the calyx nearly equal; brads shorter than the pedicels, persis- 

 tent.— Pifr-s/i .' /. 2.' p. 475 ; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 103 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 220. 



Plains of the Missouri near the Arikaree village. Nuttall, Lewis ! Brad- 

 bury ! (v. s. in herb. Lamb.) — Stem 2 feet high. Leaves on short petioles ; 

 leaflets 4-6 lines long, thick, petiolulate. Racemes 2-3 inches long; the 

 flowers 3 together, very small, pale purple. — Habit of Baptisia tiuctoria. 



