^ 



424 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



ish white, with some pink. Leaves of 3 ovate to oblong 

 leaflets, about i inch long. Time, summer. 



Corolla, papilionaceous. Pod, very narrow, and 2 inches or 

 less long. Flowers, in heads, few, each one sessile, the whole 

 cluster on a long peduncle. Stem very slender and hairy, 

 from a rootstock, growing from 2 to 4 feet in length, prostrate, 

 not clim.bing. 



Found in New Jersey and Long Island, south to Florida, west 

 to Louisiana. 



31 



In S. aiigulhsa the middle of the 3 leaflets is 2-lobed; 

 the others are sometimes lobed or entire, about i inch long. 

 Flowers greenish white and bluish purple, growing in closely 

 clustered heads on a peduncle, which lengthens as the season 

 advances. Stems hairy, branched, reclining, i to 5 feet long. 



32. Partridge-pea 



Cassia Chamaecrlsta. — Family, Pulse. Color, bright yel- 

 low. Leaves, pinnate; from 10 to 15 pairs of leaflets and i 

 terminal, all somewhat sensitive, folding together when plucked. 

 A pair of cup-shaped glands at the base of the 2 lowest leaf- 

 lets. Stipules present. Ti7?ie, late summer. 



Sepals, 5. Petals, 5, spreading. The papilionaceous co- 

 rolla is not found in this flower, but the spreading petals are 

 unequal in size ; 2 or 3 have a purple spot at the base. Sta- 

 mens, 10, 4 with yellow anthers, 6 with purple, all opening by 

 2 pores at the apex. Fod, flat, many-seeded, with cross-parti- 

 tions. 



The showy, bright flowers, on slender pedicels, grow in small 

 clusters under the leaves. Stems spreading, about i foot long. 



From Massachusetts to New Jersey; more common southward. 



33. Wild Sensitive Plant 

 C. nictitans bears very small, yellow flowers in clusters on 



