FABACEAE. 185 



cm. long, acute or acutish at the apex, obtuse at the baf^-e, pubescent on both 

 sides, as long as the pubescent petioles or shorter; stipels subulate; racemes 

 1-2 dm. long, commonly branched; pedicels filiform, 3-8 mm. long; bracts 

 ovate, about 1 mm. long, deciduous; calyx 2.5-3 mm. long, its teeth linear- 

 lanceolate; corolla blue, little longer than the calyx; loment nearly sessile, 2- 

 jointed, the louver joint small, twisted, the upper one elliptic or subreniform, 

 6-8 mm. long, finely reticulate-veined, sparingly pubescent or glabrate. 



Waste places, Andros, Fortune Island. Acklin's Island : — Cuba to Virgin Gorda 

 and Martinique; Curagao ; continental tropical America. Recorded from Jamaica. 

 Velvety Tick-trefoil. 



11. ALYSICARPUS Neck.; DC. Prodr. 2: 352. 1825. 



Herbs, our species with 1-foliolate leaves and small purplish or blue flowers 

 in short terminal racemes, the scarious bracts deciduous. Calyx narrow, 

 deeply cleft, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, chartaceous, striate, the two upper 

 ones partly united. Standard suborbicular, clawed; wings obliquely oblong, 

 adnate to the blunt incurved keel. Stamens diadelphous (9 and 1). Ovary 

 nearly sessile, several-ovuled ; style filiform, its apex incurved; stigma terminal, 

 capitate. Loment nearly terete, several-jointed, the joints indehiscent. [Greek, 

 chain-fruit.] About 16 species, natives of the Old World tropics. Type 

 species: Alijsicarpus 'bupleurifolius (L.) DC. 



1. Alysicarpus nummularifolius (L.) DC. Prodr. 2: 353. 1825. 



Hedysarum nummulari folium L. Sp. PI. 746. 1753. 

 Alysicarpus vaginalis DC. Prodr. 2: 353. 1825. 



Perennial, branched at the base, the branches slender, diffuse, glabrous or 

 nearly so, spreading or ascending, 5 cm.-6 dm. long. Stipules scarious, striate, 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 4-6 mm. long; petioles very slender, 1 cm, long or less; 

 leaves glabrous, or sparingly pubescent, the lower orbicular to oval, 5-12 mm. 

 long, the upper oblong to 'lanceolate, 1-3.5 em. long; racemes 1-3 cm. long; 

 pedicels very short, pubescent; calyx 4-5 mm. long; corolla little longer than 

 the calyx; loment 1-2 cm. long, its puberulent or glabrous joints truncati-. 

 slightly wrinkled. 



Waste places, New Providence, near Nassau : — West Indies. Native of soutliorn 

 Asia. False Moneywort. 



12. ECASTAPHYLLUM [P. Br.] Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 320. 1763. 



Woody vines, or widely branching shrubs, with alternate, 1-foliolate or un- 

 evenly pinnate leaves, the leaflets estipellate, and small white bracted flowers 

 mostly in axillary clusters. Calyx subcampanulate, its 2 upper teeth broad. 

 Standard broadly ovate or suborbicular; wings oblong; keel blunt, incurved, its 

 petals connate on the back near the apex. Stamens all united into a cleft 

 sheath, or the upper one separate or wanting; anthers erect, their sacs dehis- 

 cent by terminal slits. Ovary 2-ovuled, stipitate; st3'le nearly straight; stigma 

 terminal. Pod nearly orbicular to short-elliptic, nearly flat, 1-seeded, sub- 

 ligneous, indehiscent. [Greek, referring to the unifoliolate leaves of the fol- 

 lowing typical species.] Five or six species, natives of tropical and sub- 

 tropical America. 



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