512 LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 



Michx.) Dry soil, Fla. to Tenn., Sandusky, O. (Moseley). s. Ind., and Kan. 

 June. 



* * Leaves palmately 3-5-foliolate ; roots not tuberous. 



-t- Fruit more or less compressed, ovate. 



4. P. tenuiflbra Pursh. Slender, erect, much branched and bushy, 6-12 

 dm. high, minutely hoary-pubescent when young ; leaflets varying from lineaf 

 to obovate-oblong, 1.2-3.6 cm. long, glandular-dotted ; flowers (4-6 mm. long) 

 in loose racemes ; lobes of the calyx and bracts ovate, acute ; pod glandular. 

 Prairies, 111. to Minn., Tex., and westw. June-Sept. 



Var. floribunda (Nutt.) Rydb. Flowers more numerous, slightly larger and 

 in denser racemes. {P. floribunda Nutt.) Same range. 



5. P. argophylla Pursh. Silvery silky-white all over, erect, divergently 

 branched, 3-9 dm. high ; leaflets elliptical-lanceolate ; spikes interrupted ; flowers 

 8-10 mm. long ; lobes of the calyx and bracts lanceolate. High plains, n. 

 Wise, to la., Mo., and westw. June. 



6. P. digitata Nutt. More slender and less hoary, 3-6 dm. high ; leaflets 

 linear- oblanceolate ; bracts of the interrupted spike obcordate; calyx-lobes 

 oblong, acute. Sandy soil, Kan. to Col. and Tex. June, July. 



t- -i- Fruit globose. 



7. P. lanceolata Pursh. Glabrous or nearly so, yellowish-green, densely 

 punctate ; leaflets 3, linear to oblanceolate ; flowers small, in very short spikes j 

 calyx 2 mm. long, with short broad teeth. (P. micrantha Gray.) la. and 

 Kan. to the Sask., and westw. 



* * * Leaves palmately 5-foliolate ; root tuberous ; spike-like racemes dense. 



8. P. esculenta Pursh. Roughish hairy all over; stem stout, 1-4 dm. high, 

 erect, from a tuberous or turnip-shaped farinaceous root ; leaflets obovate- or 

 lanceolate-oblong ; spikes ellipsoid, long-ped uncled ; lobes of the calyx and 

 bracts lanceolate, nearly equaling the corolla (1.2 cm. long). High plains, 

 Wise, to Tex., and north westw. May-July. The POMME BLANCHE, or POM MB 

 DE PRAIRIE, of the voyageurs. 



25. AM6RPHA L. 



Calyx inversely conical, 5-toothed, persistent. Standard (the other petals 

 entirely wanting!) wrapped around the stamens and style. Stamens 10, mona- 

 delphous at the very base, otherwise distinct. Pod oblong, longer than the 

 calyx, 1-2-seeded, roughened, tardily dehiscent. Shrubs, with odd-pinnate 

 leaves ; the leaflets marked with minute dots, usually stipellate, the midvein 

 excurrent. Flowers violet or purple, crowded in clustered terminal spikes. 

 (Name, A/xop<os, deformed, from the absence of four of the petals.) 



* Leaflets small (1.2 cm. long or less), crowded. 



1. A. canscens Pursh. (LEAD PLANT.) Whitened with hoary down, 3-14 

 dm. high ; leaflets 31-51, oblong-elliptical, becoming smoothish above ; spikes 

 usually clustered at the summit. Hills and prairies, Ind. to Man., and southw. 

 June-Aug. 



2. A. microphyila Pursh. Nearly glabrous throughout, 3 dm. high or less ; 

 leaflets rather rigid ; spikes usually solitary. Prairies, Minn, and Man. to 

 Kan. June, July. 



* * Leaflets larger, scattered. 



3. A. frutic&sa L. (FALSE INDIGO.) A tall shrub, rather pubescent or 

 smoothish; leaflets 9-25, oblong to broadly elliptical. River-banks, s. Pa. to 

 Fla., w. to Sask., Tex., and the Rocky Mts.; often cultivated, and escaping 

 eastw. May, June. (Mex.) Very variable. 



Var. angustifblia Pursh. Leaflets narrower, lance-oblong or lance-elliptic, 

 of firmer texture ; fruit somewhat smaller, 6-8 mm. long. (A. angustifolia 

 Boynton.) Banks of streams, la., westw. and south westw. 



