178 



FABACEAE. 



2. Medicago hispida Willd. 



Toothed Medic. (JPig. 198.) 

 Branches spreading or ascending, 

 glabrous or with a few appressed 

 hairs, Leaflets obovate, rounded, 

 emarginate or obcordate, cuneate, 

 crenulate, 5"-10" long; stipules 

 dentate; flowers few, yellow, in 

 small, peduncled heads; pod spi- 

 rally t^'isted, the 2 or 3 coils flat 

 and rather loose, reticulated with 

 elevated veins, the edges armed 

 with 1 or 2 rows of curved prickles. 

 [M. denticulata Willd.; M. muri- 

 cata of Lefroy.] 



Common in fields and waste 

 grounds. Naturalized from Europe. 

 Naturalized in the United States. 

 Flowers from winter to autumn. 



Medicago sativa L., Alfalfa, of Europe and Asia, with conspicuous violet 

 flowers, is recorded as formerly occasional in waste grounds, but not per- 

 sistent. It is occasionally cultivated. A plot was given to it at the Agricul- 

 tural Station in 1914. 



Medicago arabica All. [M. maculata With.], Spotted Medic, European, 

 with dark-spotted leaflets, the edges of the coiled pods furrowed, recorded by 

 Lefroy as Bermudian, has not been found by subsequent collectors. It is an 

 annual, much resembling M. hispida, for which it may have been mistaken. 



4. MELILOTUS [Tourn.] Mill. 



Herbs, with 3-foliolate leaves, dentate leaflets, their veins commonly end- 

 ing in the teeth, and small white or yellow flowers in slender racemes. Calyx- 

 teeth short, nearly equal; standard obovate or oblong; keel obtuse; ovary 

 sessile or stipitate, few-ovuled; style filiform; pod ovoid or globose, straight, 

 indehiscent or finally 2-valved; seeds solitary or few. [Greek, Honey-lotus.] 

 About '20 species, natives of Europe, Africa and Asia. Type species: Tri- 

 folium Melilotus officinalis L. The plants are fragrant in drying, whence the 

 English name Sweet-clover. 



