255 



four 01 five inches. The bcsl lime is the hitcr cntl of March, in a ii<2;ht 

 soil. The roots may be taken up for use in Septemlicr, and the 

 ■whole crop housed in Ocloljer. When kept in sand in a drv place, 

 ihey conliimo the whole winter very good. 



2. IIEDYSAllLM OBSCURUM. 



CREEPING-ROOTKD HEDYSARUM. 



This genus contains plants of the herbaceous flowering kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadclpliia Vccaudria, and ranks 

 in the natural order of Papilmiacecr. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a one-lcafcd perianthium, 

 liaU-fivc-clcft : clefts subulate, upright, permanent: the corolla is 

 papilionaceous, streaked : banner rellex-compressed, ovalc-oblong, 

 emarginate, long: wings oblong, narrower than tlic other petals, 

 straight: keel straiglit, compressed, broader outwardly, transversely 

 blunt, from the base to the swelling part bifid : the stamina have dia- 

 delphous filaments, (simple and nine-cleft,) bent in at a right angle: 

 anthers roundish, comjjressed: the pislilium is a slender germ, com- 

 pressed, linear: style subulate, bent in with the stamens: stigma very 

 simple: the pericarjjium is a legume willi ruuiulish, compressed 

 joints, Iwo-valved, and containing one seed: the seed kidney-shaped 

 and solilar}-. 



Tiic species chiefly cultivated arc: 1. //. Alhagi, Prickly Hedy- 

 sarnni; 2. II. Caiiadciise, Canadian IJedysarum; 3. II. gipaus. Sen- 

 sitive Iledysarum ; 4. II. coronarium. Common Iledysarum, or 

 French Honeysuckle; 5. ii. /ch/oat/w, Waved-j)odded iledysarum; 

 C. //. liiimUc, Dwarf Iledysarum ; 7. //. spiiiosis.simtan, Prickly Iledy- 

 sarum. 



The first has the stems shrubby, al)out three feet higli, branching 

 out on every sid : tlic leaves are shaped like those of broad-lcavcd 



