Desmodium.] LEGUMINOSAE. 341 



usually narrowed at the base ; wings obliquely oblong, more -or 

 less adhering to the keel, the petals of which are obtuse, often 

 incurved, sometimes spurred towards the claw. Stamens usually 

 diadelphous, 9 and 1, sometimes monadelphous, sometimes with 

 the vexillary filament free in the upper half ; anthers uniform. 

 Ovary sessile or stalked, '2- many -ovuled ; style incurved, some- 

 times sharply; stigma capitate. Pod a lomentum of several 

 1 -seeded joints, the joints usually indehiscent and easily sepa- 

 rating, less often dehiscent at one suture, in one section dehiscent 

 along the whole ventral suture. Seeds compressed, usually reni- 

 form, estrophiolate. 



Pods distinctly divided into several 1- seeded joints: 



Flowers in short dense peduncled axillary umbels ; shrubs with 

 triquetrous stems and 3-foliolate leaves ; stamens monadelphous ; 



pods curved, 4-6-jointed 1. Cephalotes. 



Flowers in elongated racemes : 

 Joints of pods indehiscent : 



Pods with 1-3 usually 2 joints, the joints round, reticulate ; 

 stamens monadelphous, the vexillary one free above the middle ; 

 leaves 3-foliolate : 



Racemes with flower fascicles in the axils of conspicuous 

 bifarious floral leaves each with 2 round leaflets and a ter- 

 minal bristle or rarely an oblong leaflet ; leaves large, mem- 

 branous 2. pulchellum. 



Racemes with flower fascicles in the axils of stipular bracts, 



not leafy ; leaves small, coriaceous 3. biarticulatum. 



Pods with oblong compressed joints, 2-4 times longer than 

 broad, with sticky hooked hairs ; stamens diadelphous, 9 and 1 ; 

 racemes slender : 

 Leaves 3-foliolate : 



Joints of pod 6-8, each twice longer than broad ; leaflets 



chartaceous, lanceolate 4. laburnifolium. 



Joints of pod 6-10, each 3-4 times as long as broad ; leaflets 



membranous, ovate or ovate-lanceolate 5. laxiflorwn . 



Leaves 1 -folio] ate, the leaflet subcoriaceous, ovate or lanceo- 

 late ; joints of pod 6-8, each 4-5 times as long as broad 



6. ormocarpoides. 



Pods with 1-3 scimitar- or crescent-shaped joints, the lowest 

 stalked ; leaves 3-foliolate, membranous, the lowest pair of 

 nerves starting from the base and prominent ; flowers in few- 

 flowered very lax racemes ; stamens monadelphous : 



