PULSE FAMILY. 107 



# * Stems branching, often spreading or decumbent : leaves scattered : racemes op- 

 posite the leaves, lony-peduncled : flowers fewer and smaller: pubescence 

 mostly yellowish or rusty. 



T. spicata. From Delaware S. : l-2 high, loosely soft-hairy, with 

 9-15 wedge-oblong or obovate leaflets, and 6-10 rather large scattered white 

 and purple iiowers in the raceme or spike. 



T. hispidula. From Virginia S. : low, closely pubescent or smoothish, 

 with 1L - 15 oblong small leaflets, the lowest pair above the base of the petiole, 

 and 2-4 small reddish-purple flowers. 



T. chrysophylla. From Georgia S. & W. : nearly prostrate, with 5-7 

 wedgc-obovatc leaflets, smooth above and yellowish silky beneath, the lowcs.t 

 pair close to the stem ; flowers as in the last. 



25. ROBINIA, LOCUST-TREE. (Dedicated to two early French bota- 

 nists, Robin.) Natives of Atlantic, Middle, and Southern State's, planted, and 

 the common Locust running wild N. Fl. late spring and early summer. 



R. Pseudacacia, COMMON- L. or FALSE ACACIA. Tree of valuable 

 timber, with naked branchlcts, slender and loose hanging racemes of fragrant 

 white flowers, and smooth pods. 



R. visc6sa, CLAMMY L. Smaller tree, with clammy bi*anches and stalks, 

 very short prickles, short and dense racemes of faintly rose-colored scentless 

 flowers, and rough clammy pods. 



R. hispida, BRISTLY L. or ROSE-ACACIA. Ornamental shrub, with 

 branches and stalks bristly, broad leaflets tipped with a long bristle, large and 

 showy bright rose-colored flowers in close or loose racemes, and clammy-bristly 

 pods. 



26. COLUTEA, BLADDER-SENNA. (Derivation of name obscure : 

 the English name refers to the bladdery pods and to the leaves having been 

 used as a substitute for those of Senna. ) 



C. arbor^scens, COMMON B. European shrub, planted in gardens, with 

 7-11 oval and rather truncate leaflets, a raceme of 5-10 yellow flowers, in 

 summer, succeeded by the large very thin-walled closed pods. 



C. cruenta, ORIENTAL B., with obovate notched leaflets, fewer flowers 

 saffron-colored or reddish, and pods opening by a little slit before they arc ripe, 

 is scarcely hardy N. 



27. ASTRAGALUS, MILK- VETCH. (Old Greek name of the ankle- 

 bone and of some leguminous plant ; application and meaning uncertain.) 

 Very many native species west of the Mississippi. 



A. Canadensis. River-banks, the only widely common species ; rather 

 coarse, 1 4 high, slightly pubescent, with leaves of numerous leaflets, long 

 dense spikes of greenish cream-colored flowers, in summer, followed by small 

 and coriaceous ovoid pods, completely divided by a longitudinal partition. 2/ 



A. Cobperi. Gravelly shores N. & W. : resembles the foregoing, but 

 smoother, l-2 high, with small white flowers in a short spike, and inflated 

 ovoid pods about 1' long, thin-walled, and not divided internally ; fl. in early 

 summer. 2/ 



A. glaber. Pine-barrens S. : nearly smooth, 2 high, with very many 

 oblong-linear small leaflets, loosely many-flowered spikes of white flowers, in 

 spring, succeeded by oblong curved and flatfish 2-cellcd pods. ^ 



A. caryoearpus, GROUND PLUM of the Western royayeurs, so called from 

 the fruit, which is of the size and shape of a small plum, and fleshy, but becom- 

 ing dry and corky, very thick-walled, 2-cellcd ; the plant low, smoothish, with 

 many small narrow obiong leaflets, and short racemes or spikes of violet-purple 

 or nearly white flowers, in spring : common along the Upper Mississippi and 

 W. and S. on the plains. ^ 



A. villbsus. Pine-barrens S. : low and spreading, loosely hoary-hairy, 

 with about 13 oblong leaflets notched at the end, a short and dense raceme or 

 spike of small yellowish flowers, in spring, and an oblong 3-angled curved and 

 soft-hairy pod, its cavity not divided. 1J. 



