-526 LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 



Peduncle well developed. 

 Flowers 1-6, tiny (2-4 mm. long) ; seeds 2-4 ; annuals. 



Pods glabrous, 4-seeded 4. V. tetratperma, 



Pods hairy, 2-seeded 5. V. hirguta. 



Flowers usually more numerous, larger ; perennials except no. 10. 

 Smooth or merely appressed-pubescent perennials. 

 Flowers 6-12 mm. long. 



Flowers 2-8 ; seeds 4-6 6. V. ludoticiana. 



Flowers more numerous ; seeds 6-12. 



Flowers 1-1.2 cm. long, blue and purple 7. V. Cracca. 



Flowers barely 1 cm. long, white, the keel tipped with blue . . 8. V. caroliiiinna. 



Flowers 1.5-1.8 cm. long 9. V. americana. 



Villous annual or biennial 10. V. mlloxa. 



1. V. SAtlvA L. (SPRING V.) Annual (or winter-annual), pubescent, becom- 

 ing glabrate ; the stem simple or branched at base ; leaves essentially uniform ; 

 leaflets 4-8 pairs, oblong to oblong-obovate, truncate to emarginate and mucro- 

 nate at apex, 1.5-3 cin. long, 5-13 mm. broad; flowers chiefly in twos in the 

 upper axils, 2-3 cm. long, showy, purple and rose-color; calyx 1-1.5 cm. long; 

 pod pubescent when young, torulose, 4-8 cm. long, 7-8 mm. wide. Cultivated 

 for forage in eastern Canada and occasionally elsewhere, and sometimes persist- 

 ing or spreading to waste ground. July, Aug. (Introd. from Eurasia.) 



2. V. ANGUSTIF6LIA (L.) Reichard. (COMMON V.) Similar, glabrous or 

 glabrate; leaflets 2-5 (rarely 6) pairs, those of the lower leaves oblong and trun- 

 cate, of the upper linear- to lance-attenuate, mucronate, 1.5-3 cm. long. 1-4 mm. 

 broad; flowers smaller (1-1.8 cm. long) ; calyx 7-11 mm. long; pod 4-5.5 cm. 

 long, 5-7 min. wide, less torulose. Gravelly waste places, chiefly eastw. May- 

 Sept. (Nat. from Eu.) Var. SEGET\LIS (Thuillier) Koch. Leaflets of the upper 

 leaves truncate or emarginate and mucronate at apex, oblong to oblong-obovate, 

 2-8 mm. broad. (V. sativa Man. ed. 6, not L.) Roadsides, waste places, etc., 

 common. (Nat. from Eu.) 



3. V. SEPIUM L. Perennial ; leaflets 5-8 pairs, elliptic-ovate ; flowers 3-4. in 

 subsessile racemes; pod oblong, obliquely acuminate, many-seeded. Locally 

 in fields and waste places, Me. to Ont. June, July. (Nat. from Eu.) 



4. V. TETRASPERMA (L.) Moench. Peduncles 1-2-flowered ; leaflets 4-6 

 pairs, linear-oblong, obtuse ; calyx-teeth unequal ; corolla bluish ; pods narrow, 

 ^-seeded, smooth. Waste places, e. Que. to Ont., Fla., and Miss. May-Sept. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



5. V. HiRsfiTA (L.) S. F. Gray. Peduncles 3-6-flowered; leaflets 6-8 pairs, 

 truncate ; calyx-teeth equal ; corolla whitish ; pods oblong, 2-seeded, hairy. 

 Waste places, e. Que. to Ont. and Ga. May-Aug. (Nat. from Eu.) 



8. V. ludoviciana Nutt. Peduncles f-H times as long as the leaves, 2-8- 

 flowered; leaflets 7-11, elliptical to oblong; flowers 6-8 mm. long, blue or pur- 

 ple. Greene Co., Mo. (Blankinship) , and southw. Apr., May. 



7. V. Cracca L. Appressed-pubescent ; leaflets 8-24, oblong-lanceolate, 

 strongly mucronate ; racemes densely many-flowered, 1-sided ; flowers blue, 

 turning purple (rarely white), 1-1.2 cm. long, reflexed ; calyx-teeth shorter than 

 the tube. Borders of thickets or in fields, Nfd. to N. J., w. to Ky., la., and 

 Minn. June-Aug. (Eu.) 



8. V. caroliniana Walt. Nearly smooth ; leaflets 8-24, oblong, obtuse, 

 scarcely mucronate; peduncles loosely floioered ; flowers small, more scattered 

 than in the preceding, whitish, the keel tipped with blue ; calyx-teeth very short. 

 River-banks, Ont. to Ga., Minn., and Kan. Apr. -June. 



!. V. americana Muhl. Glabrous; leaflets 10-14, elliptical or ovate-oblong. 

 very obtuse, many-veined ; peduncles 4-8-fioicered ; flowers purplish (1.5-1. < s cm. 

 long). Moist soil, N. Y. to Va., Minn., Kan., and westw. May, June. Var. 

 TRUNC\TA (Nutt.) Brewer. Leaflets conspicuously truncate. Reported from 

 e. Kan. Var. AXGUSTIFOLIA Nees. Leaflets linear. (Var. linearis Wats.) 

 Minn., westw. and southw. 



10. V. VII.LOSA Roth. (HAIRY or WINTER V.) Resembling V. Cracca, but 

 annual or biennial; the stems, peduncles, and leaves villiis; the violet ami 

 white flowers larger. Frequently planted for fodder, and inclined to persist or 

 escape into dry open soil. May-hept. (Introd. from Eurasia ) 



