105. LEGUMINOSAE 283 



324. Fruit straight, globular or ovoid, thick, wrinkled. Flowers in slender, 



more or less spike-Hke racemes, yellow, rarely white. Herbs. — 

 Species 10. North Africa and Abyssinia ; several species also natural- 

 ized in South Africa. Used as fodder or in medicine. Melilotus Juss. 



Fruit more or less curved (sickle- or kidney-shaped) or spirally coiled, 

 usually flattened. Flowers in short racemes or in heads. — Species 

 35. North Africa to Abyssinia and South Africa ; several species 

 also naturalized in the Mascarene Islands. Some of them (especially 

 M. sativa L., lucern) are used as fodder, or medicinal plants, and for 

 making paper and brush-wares, others are noxious as burs. 



Medicago L. 



325. Upper calyx-lobes more or less, sometimes entirely united. Corolla 



yellow. Standard suborbicular, auricled at base. Fruit linear or 

 oblong, constricted between the seeds, dehiscing bv two valves. Leaf- 

 lets entire, gland-dotted 326 



Upper calyx-lobes not or scarcely united. Standard oblong or obovate. 

 Fruit dehiscing at the upper suture or indehiscent, rarely tardily 

 dehiscing b}^ two valves. Leaflets usually toothed. Stipules adnate 

 to the leafstalk 328 



326. L'pper calyx-lobes shortly united. Keel exceeding the wings. Fruit 



oblong, curved, turgid, i-celled. Seeds with an outgrowth at the 

 hilum. Viscid, twining herbs or undershrubs. — Species i. South 



Africa and Madagascar Fagelia Neck. 



Upper calyx-lobes united for the greater part or entirely. Fruit com- 

 pressed and transversely septate 327 



327. Fruit oblong, blunt or shortly pointed. Seeds with an outgrowth at the 



hilum. Herbs or undershrubs. Stipules persistent. Flowers in 

 fascicles or short racemes. — Species 2. Madagascar and Mascarenes. 

 (Under Atylosia Wight & Am.) . Cantharospermum Wight & Arn. 

 Fruit linear, ending in a long point. Seeds without an outgrowth at the 

 hilum. Style broadened in the middle and towards the apex. Erect 

 shrubs or undershrubs. Stipules deciduous, awl-shaped. Flowers in 

 racemes. (See 307.) Cajanus DC. 



328. Flowers in long, more or less spike-like racemes. Ovules few. Fruit 



oblong to globose, thick, straight, indehiscent, i — 3-seeded. Herbs. 



(See 324.) Melilotus Juss. 



Flowers solitary or in short racemes, heads, or umbels 329 



329. Fruit linear or oblong, straight or slightly curved. Herbs. — Species 25. 



North Africa, Nile-land, and South Africa. T. foenumgraecitm L. is 

 cultivated for its seeds, which are used as food, fodder, vermin-poison, 

 in medicine, and in the manufacture of cloth ; it is also used as a 



vegetable Trigonella L. 



Fruit spirally twisted, more rarely sickle- or kidne3'-shaped. (Sec 324.) 



Medicago L. 



