192 FABACEAE. 



entire; petals blue or lavender; standard with permanent yellow 

 spot; keel naked. 



Common on the sand-dunes along the seashore. Flowering 

 nearly the year round. 



3. CYTISUS L. Broom. 



Shrubs with green, leafy or sometimes nearly leafless, 

 more or less angular branches. Leaves palmately or 

 pinnately 3-foliate; leaflets entire. Flowers solitary or 

 racemose, usually yellow. Calyx bilabiate. Petals 

 broad ; keel obtuse. Stamens monadelphous. Pod com- 

 pressed, several-seeded. 



1. C. canariensis (L.) Link. Much branched, 1-2 m. high, soft 

 pubescent, leafy; leaflets 6-12 mm. long; flowers yellow, 15-20 mm. 

 long, fragrant, in terminal racemes; upper calyx-lip deeply 3-toothed, 

 the lower slightly so. 



An occasional escape from cultivation. A native of the Old 

 World. 



4. MEDICAGO L. 



Annual or perennial herbs with pinnately 3-folIate 

 leaves and 2-3 or many flowers in axillary peduncles. 

 Stipules adnate, often laclnlate. Petals free from the 

 diadelphous stamens, deciduous. Pod 1-several-seeded, 

 colled Into a spiral. 



Flowers purple. 1. M. sativa. 



Flowers yellow. 



Leaves glabrous or nearly so; flowers in axil- 

 lary 2-3-flowered clusters. 

 Bur-like pods with hooked prickles. 2. M. hispida. 



Bur-like pods unarmed, or with tubercles 

 on the margin. 

 Pod 3-5 mrn. broad. 3. M. apiculata. 



Pod 10 mm. broad, strongly veiny. 4. ilf. orbicularis. 



Leaves pilose-pubescent; flowers in axillary 



pedunculate spikes. 5. M. lupulina. 



1. M. sativa L. (Alfalfa.) Stems erect from a deep perennial 

 tap-root, glabrous, 5-10 dm. high; leaflets cuneate-oblong to ob- 

 lanceolate, toothed above; flowers many in a short raceme, violet; 

 pod spirally coiled, unarmed. 



An occasional escape. Native of Europe. 



2. M. hispida Gaertn. (Bur-clover.) Slender, much branch- 

 ed, decumbent, glabrous annual; leaflets obovate to obcordate, 

 toothed above; flowers small, yellow, 2-3 or rarely more on axillary 

 peduncles; pods coiled, their margins armed^with hooked prickles. 



Everywhere common. Native of Europe. 



