178 FABACEAE. 



1. Sophora tomentosa L. Sp. PI. 373. 1753. 



A shrub 1-3 m, tall, with silky-tomentose foliage. Leaves 1-2 dm. long; 

 leaflets 11-17, the blades leathery, oblong, oblong-obovate or oval, inequilateral, 

 becoming glalDrous and revolute-margined ; racemes elongating, 1-4 elm. long; 

 pedicels 5-10 mm. long; calyx oblong or oblong-funnelform, 5-8 mm. long^ con- 

 stricted at the base, undulate or indistinctly 5-lobed; corolla yellow; standard 

 with an ovate blade fully 1 cm. broad, and over 1.5 cm. long; keel-petals 20 mm. 

 long; pods 5-10 cm. long, strongly constricted between the seeds, long-stalked. 



Coastal thickets, coppices and white-lands, throughout the archipelago from 

 Great Bahama through Andros and Eleuthera to Taicos, Grand Turk. Inagua and 

 Anguilla Isles : — Bermuda : Florida ; Cuba to Virgin Gorda and St. Vincent ; 

 Jamaica ; Aruba ; Old World tropics. Coast Sophora. 



3. CROTALARIA L. Sp. PI. 714. 1753. 



Herbs, sometimes slightly woody, with simple, or in many tropical species 

 3-7-foliolate leaves, and racemose yellow flowers. Calyx 5-toothed, slightly 

 2-lipped; standard orbicular or ovate, often cordate; wings oblong or obovate; 

 keel curved. Stamens monadelphous, their sheath deeply cleft; anthers of 2 

 forms, alternating with each other, the one small, versatile, the other larger; 

 style more or less curved; pod oblong or globose, inflated, many-seeded, the 

 seeds loose at maturity. [Greek, a rattle.] About 250 species, mainly of trop- 

 ical regions. Type species: Crotalaria loti folia L. 



Leaves simple. 



Flowers blue, variegated. 1. C. verrucosa. 



Flowers yellow. 2. C. retiisa. 



Leaves 3-foliolate. 



Flowers ] cm. wide or less ; pod about 1 cm. long. 3. C pumila. 



Flowers large, 1.5 cm. wide or more ; pod 2-3.5 cm. long. 



Herbaceous annual : pods pilose. 4. C. incano'. 



Somewhat woody perennial ; pods puberulent. 5. C. lotifolia. 



1. Crotalaria verrucosa L. Sp. PI. 715. 1753. 



Annual, 3-8 dm. high, branched, the branches zigzag, angled, finely ap- 

 pressed-pubescent. Leaves simple, broadly ovate or ovate-elliptic, obtuse, 

 rounded or acute and mucronulate at the apex, narrowed at the base, 3-7 cm. 

 long, glabrous or nearly so above, finely appressed-pubescent beneath, short- 

 petioled, the rounded stipules 3-6 mm. long; racemes several-flowered, longer 

 than the leaves, the peduncle and rachis angled; calyx deeply cleft, its upper 

 lobes ovate, the lower lanceolate; corolla blue, variegated, 1-1.5 cm. long, about 

 twice as long as the corolla; pod sessile, oblong, beaked, appressed-pubescent 

 with long hairs, 3-4 cm. long, 9-12 mm. thick. 



Waste and cultivated ground. New Providence, Long Island and Crooked 

 Island : — St. Thomas to Virgin Gorda and Barbadoes ; .Jamaica ; Cuba ; continental 

 tropical America. Native of the East Indies. Purple Rattlebox. 



2. Crotalaria retusa L. Sp. PI. 715. 1753. 



Annual, appressed-pubescent, usually branched, 4-10 dm. high. Stipules 

 minute or wanting ; leaves simple, oblanceolate, spatulate or oblong, short- 

 petioled, 4-8 cm. long, rounded or retuse at the apex, cuneate at the base, 

 glabrous above, appressed-pubescent beneath; racemes terminal, peduncled, 

 loosely several-many-flowered, 2 dm. long or less; pedicels 6-10 mm. long; 

 calyx 2-lipped, about 10 mm. long; petals nearly twice as long as the calyx, 

 yellow, the standard variegated; pod oblong, 2.5-3.5 cm. long, about 1 cm. 

 thick, short-beaked, glabrous. 



Waste and cultivated land. New Providence and Great Exuma : — Florida ; Ber- 

 muda ; West Indies ; coatirental tropical America. Naturalized from the Old 

 World. Large Yellow Rattlebox. 



