LEGUMIN082E. 35 



Thus far collected only by the author, on subsaline plains of the lower 

 San Joaquin, near Byron, Bethany, etc., where it is plentiful. The leaflets, 

 commonly laciuiately and deeply pinnatifid, in occasional specimens are 

 narrowly linear or linear-spatulate and quite entire. Mar. Apr. 



11. MELIIiOTUS, Mijrimn (Sweet Clover ). Erect herbs with pin- 

 nately 3-foliolate leaves, the leaflets toothed, and small fragrant flowers 

 in slender axillary racemes. Petals free from the diadelphous stamens, 

 deciduous. Pod ovoid, small, scarcely dehiscent, 1 — 2-seeded.- Old World 

 plants with sweet-scented herbage and very fragrant flowers. The follow- 

 ing species are naturalized with us. 



1. M. Indica, Allioni, I-'l. Ped. i. 3()8 (1785) ; M. parvijiora, Desf. Fl. 

 Atl. ii. 192 (1800); M. accidentaUn, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 321 (1838). 

 Annual, glabrous, 1-3 ft. high, bearing many racemes of minute yellow 

 flowers. — Common in low grounds, chiefly near the salt marshes or along 

 rivers. A good fodder plant. 



2. M. ALBA, Lam. Encycl. iv. 63 ( 1796 j. Stout, 3 6 ft. high : fl. larger, 

 white, very fragrant. — Spontaneous in northern California ; perhaps not 

 within our limits. 



12. MEDICAGO, Tourmfort (Alfalfa, Bur Clover). Herbs with 

 pinnately 3-foliolate (rarely 5-foliolate) leaves and flowers 2, 3 or many on 

 axillary peduncles. Petals free from the diadelphous stamens, deciduous. 

 Pod 1-several-seeded, falcate-incurved or coiled into a spiral. — Very 

 valuable forage plants, natives of Asia, brought to California, by way 

 of Mexico or South America in very early times ; some of them now 

 naturalized almost everywhere in the State. 



1. M. LUPULiNA, Linn. Sp. PI. 779 (1753). Annual, slender, pro- 

 cumbent, 1 — 2 ft. long, soft-hairy : leaflets obovate, small : fl. minute, 

 in small oblong heads, yellow : pod small, reniform or curved almost into 

 a ring, black when ripe, 1-seeded. — Foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, at 

 lone and elsewhere. 



2. M. DENTicuLATA, WiUd. Sp. iii. 1414 (1801). Annual, much branched, 

 decumbent, glabrous : leaflets obovate or obcordate, denticulate : fl. 2—3, 

 yellow : pods coiled into 2 circles, their margins armed with hooked 

 prickles. — Common everywhere ; valuable as a forage plant, but the 

 "burs" damaging to wool. 



3. M. SATiVA, Moris. Hist. ii. 1.50 (1680j. Perennial, erect, glabrous, 

 2 — 4 ft. high : leaflets cuneate-oblong or oblanceolate, toothed above : 

 fl. X , racemose, violet : pod spirally coiled, unarmed. — This, the Alfalfa 

 or Lucerne of the cultivators, is here and there spontaneous, but no- 

 where very prevalent in the wild state. 



