104 PULSE FAMILY. 



16. LESPEDEZA, BUSH-CLOVER. (Named for Lesptdez, a Spanish 

 Governor of Florida. ) All grow in sandy or sterile soil; 11. late summer 

 and autumn. ^ 



* Native species : stipules and bracts minute. 



H- Flowers in dose Spike* or heads on u/ trig fit (2 -4 h'njh) simple rigid stems: 

 cttro'iti (/ nut-rotor or white with a purple spot, about the length of the siikij- 

 downy calyx. 



L. capitata. Leaflets oblong or sometimes linear, silky beneath, thickish ; 

 peduncles and petioles short; flowers in short spikes or heads ; calyx much 

 longer than the pod. 



L. hirta. Leaflets roundish or oval, hairy or downy ; petioles and pedun- 

 cles slender ; spikes becoming rather long and loose. 



- *- Flowers violet-purple, scattered or in open panicles or clnstzrs, slender-pedun- 

 </('</, also usually some more fertile ones, mostly without petals, in small 

 sessile clusters. 



L. violacea. The commonest, and very variable, bushy-branching, erect 

 or spreading, with leaflets varying from oval to linear, and minutely whitish- 

 downy beneath, or sometimes silky ; the ordinary flowers loosely panickd. 

 <) L. procumbens. Soft-downy, except the upper surface of the o: : al or 

 oblong leaflets, slender and trailing ; peduncles slender and few-flowered. 

 -VTj. ripens. Smooth, except some minute and scattered close-pressed hairs, 

 very slender, prostrate ; leaflets obovatc or oval (^' long). 



# # Naturalized in States, from China or Japan : stipules ovate or lance-ovate, 



striate, longer than the very short pcji <>/<-. 



L. striata. Introduced (more than 25 years ago) in some unknown way 

 into the Southern Atlantic States, now rapidly spreading and occupying old 

 fields and waste places, to the great benefit of the country, lie-ing greedily fed 

 upon by cattle ; it is low and spreading, 3'- 10' high, much branched, almost 

 smooth, with oblong or wedge-oblong leaflets i'-' long, and 1 -3 small pur- 

 plish flowers almost sessile in the axils. 



17. DESMODIUM, TICK-TREFOIL. ( Name from Greek, means found 

 together, from the connected joints of the pod.) 11 We have many native 

 species, common in open woods and copses ; fl. late summer : the following 

 are the more common. 



1. Native species : the little joints of the pod adhere to clothing or to the coats of 

 animals : flowers sometimes turning greenish in withering, 



* Pod raised far above the calyx on a slender stalk of its own, straightish on the 



upper margin, divided from below into not more than 4 joints : flowers in 

 one hng-staflced nuked terminal raceme or panicf-e : plants smooth, 1 3 

 high : stipules bristle-form. 



D. nudifldrum. Flower-stalk and leaf-bearing stem rising separately 

 from a common root ; the leaves all crowded on the summit of the latter, and 

 with broadly ovate bluntish leaflets, pale beneath. 



D. acuminatum. Flower-stalk terminating the stem, which bears a 

 cluster of leaves; the large leaflets (4' -5' long) round-ovate with a tapering 

 point, or the end one blunter, green both sides. 



* * Pod littk if at a I! raised above the cali/r. 



- Stems erect, 3 - high : stipules large, orate or lance-ovate and jtointcd, 

 stn'ate, persistent, t/i" bracts similar hut deciduous : fjnirers large for the 

 genus: racemes panicled : pods of 4-7 rhombic-ol>log joints, each joint 

 about V long. 



D. CUSpidatum. Very smooth, with a straight stem, lancc-ovato and 

 taper-pointed leaflets (3' -5' long) longer than the common petiole, and pod 

 with smoothish joints. 



D. can6scens. Hairy, with branching stems, pale leaves ; the ovate 

 bluntish leaflets about the length of the common petiole, reticulated beneath and 

 both sides roughish with fine close pubescence ; joints of pod very adhesive. 



