LEGUMIXOSAE 61 



96. L,ESPEDE V ZA, MX. 



[Dedicated, by Michaux, to the Spanish Governor of Florida, Don LespedezJ] 

 Calyx nearly equally 5-cleft, with 2 persistent bractlets at base. 

 Legume of a single 1-seeded joint, lenticular, unarmed, reticulately 

 veined. Perennials, with pinnately trifoliolate leaves; leaflets not 

 stipellate; flowers sometimes incomplete, and polygamous. 



f Flowers of 2 sorts; tiie larger (violet purpls) complete, but seldom fertile, clustered) 

 with smaller apetalous fertile ones intermixed. 



1. It. procumbens, MX. Stem trailing, usually very pubescent ; 

 leaflets oval ; racemes sub-umbellate on long erect axillary pedun- 

 cles. 



PROCUMBENT LESPEDEZA. 



/Stem. 2 to 3 feet long, branching, often several from the same root; branches 

 erect or assurgent. Leaflets one-third to three-fourths of an inch long; common 

 jxtioles 1 line to half an inch in length. Ligume 2 to 3 times as long as the calyx, 

 orbicular-ovate, pubescent with short appressed hairs* 

 Hob, Sandy banks, and dry woodlands : frequent. Fl. Aug. Fr. Octo. 



2. Li. violstcea, Pers. Stem more or less erect, branched, often 

 bushy; leaflets varying from oval to linear, whitish-downy be- 

 neath ; flowers in small and mostly pedunculate clusters. 



Also, L. sessiliflora, Nutt. & L. reticulata, Pers. $ Fl. Cestr. ed. 2. 



p. 419-20. 



VIOLET LESPEDEZA. Bush Clover. 



Stem 1 to 2 feet high, slender and often diffusely branching, sometimes corym- 

 bose, more or less pubescent. Leaflets half an inch to an inch and half long, oval 

 or obovate, in the var. reticulata (or angustifdia), oblong-linear, 1 to 3 lines wide, 

 in the var. sessiliflora, ovate-oblong, one-third to two-thirds of an inch wide ; 

 common petioles % of an inch to an inch and half in length. Flowers in subum- 

 bellate clusters, on slender axillary peduncles as long or longer than the leaves, 

 or (in the varieties} in subsessile axillary clusters. Legume 2 or 3 times as long as 

 the calyx, somewhat pubescent. 

 Hob. Borders of woods; dry banks, &c.: frequent. FL Aug. Fr. Octo. 



Obs* Two or three pretty distinct-looking varieties are now inclu- 

 ded under the name of this species. 



3. JL. Stilvei, Nutt. Stem ^rect, hairy, somewhat virgately 

 branched above; leaflets ovate to obovate, villous beneath; ra- 

 cemes spicate, many-flowered. 



L. Nuttallii. Fl. Cestr. ed. 2. p. 420. L. virgata, Nutt. not of DC. 

 STUVE'S LESPEDEZA. 



Stem 2 to 3 feet high, striate, mostly very pubescent. Leaflets half an inch to an 

 inch and quarter long; common petioles % of an inch to an inch in length, very 

 hairy. Flowers rather crowded in somewhat spicate pedunculate racemes ; peduncUs 

 axillary and terminal, mostly longer than the leaves. Legume scarcely one-fourth 

 longer than the calyx, clothed with longish appressed hairs. 

 Hob. Dry, slaty, woodland hills : not common. Fl. Aug. Fr. Octo. 



06*. TORREY and GRAY have referred this as a variety to L. 

 Stuvei, Nutt. It is certainly nearly allied to that species ; though 

 not so silky-villous as the New Jersey plant. 



