516 



outer margin, on stout plants sometimes 2' long by i' wide. In- 

 terposed leaflets often only a small entire pair in the distal inter- 

 space, sometimes larger, obovate-oblong and dentate above with a 

 single minute one or a pair on either side. Racemes slender, 

 mostly 5'- 10' long, rarely 16', rather loosely flowered. Flower- 

 buds rounded, scarcely or not at all glandulose. Flowers 3"-5" 

 broad, rather deep yellow; anthers with broad connective. Bracts 

 and bracteoles pilose-ciliate, very small, at least the bracts narrowly 

 3-cleft. Fruit before maturity oblong and ascending, later reflexed 

 or subspreading on short appressed pedicels, minutely subglandu- 

 lose and slightly strigose, small, 2"-2^" long, 1 1^"-2'' wide, nar- 

 rowly turbinate to subhemispheric, often with a somewhat nar- 

 rowed nonsulcate basal portion, or the lowest fruit of the racemes 

 sometimes depressed-turbinate, marginless or obscurely margined, 

 the disk flat or slightly convex with obtuse sepaline process, 

 bristles loosely ascending or cl6ser and nearly erect, equalling the 

 body of the fruit or only half its length. Roots tuberous-thick- 

 ened as in A. striata, but the swellings often thicker and less tap- 

 ering at either end, often club-shaped. (Plate 282, fig. 3.) 



Dry open woods and copses and weedy banks and hillsides. 

 Of scattered or solitary habit of growth. 



Begins to flower at New York from the middle to the end of 

 July and blooms later than any other species ; belated flowers are 

 sometimes to be found at the middle of October. 



Reduced plants are sometimes trifoliate nearly throughout and 

 simulate A. puuiila. It will be usually evident to the collector of 

 such forms, however, that they represent a state of imperfect de- 

 velopment under unfavorable conditions of growth. 



This is the most variable of our species and runs into several 

 unstable forms. It should not be overlooked, however, that it 

 shows a well-defined tendency to separate into two particular 

 forms or varieties. Extreme examples of both are common and 

 exhibit so considerable a degree of divergence that the eye always 

 gives them instant recognition. Although both varieties are to be 

 found holding their characters perfectly under identical conditions 

 of soil and situation, intermediate forms, or what appear so to be, 

 are of such frequent occurrence that I have not been able to sat- 

 isfy myself of the expediency of giving a distinctive varietal name. 

 For the sake of definiteness, however, the foregoing description of 

 A. mollis has been made to cover only the form represented by 

 the type, a specimen of which is preserved in the Herbarium of 



