PULSE FAMILY. 131 



only. Flowers blue. Often flowering twice in the season. There are 

 white and double-flowered and variegated-leaved varieties and some with 

 racemes 2°-3° long. Barely hardy in New England. China or Japan. 



28. STYLOSANTHES. (Greek: column, flower, from the stalk-like 



calyx-tube. ) 



S. el^tior, Swartz. Low, inconspicuous, tufted herb ; stems wiry, 

 downy on one side ; leaflets lanceolate, strongly straight-veined ; flowers 

 orange-yellow, small, in little clusters or heads, in late summer. Pine 

 barrens from L. L to Fla. and Ind., S. W. 



29. LESPEDEZA, BUSH CLOVER. (For Lespedez, a Spanish gov- 

 ernor of Florida.) Mostly homely plants in sandy or sterile soil ; flowers 

 late summer and autumn. 



* Stipules and bracts minute; natives (except one). % 



•*- Flowers of two sorts, the larger violet-purple, scattered or in open pani- 

 cles or clusters, slender-peduncled, seldom fruitful; the fertile ones 

 mostly without petals, intermixed or in sinnll sessile clusters; pod 

 generally exserted. 



L. procdmbens, Michx. Slender or trailing, minutely hairy or soft- 

 downy ; leaflets oval or oblong ; peduncles slender and few-flowered. 

 Common. 



L. viol^cea, Pers. Bushy-branching, erect or spreading, sparsely 

 leafy ; leaflets thin, broadly oval or oblong, finely appressed-pubescent 

 beneath ; peduncles slender, loosely few-flowered. Common. 



L. reticulata, Pers. Erect, densely leafy ; leaflets thickish, linear to 

 linear-oblong ; flowers clustered on peduncles, much shorter than the 

 leaves ; pods acute. Mass. to Minn, and S. 



L. Sttivei, Nutt. Stems upright-spreading, very leafy, downy with 

 spreading liairs ; leaflets mostly oval or roundish, silky or white-woolly 

 beneath ; pods acuminate. Mass. to Mich, and S. 



L. Siebbldi, Miq. (or Desm6dium PENnuLiFLbauM). A recent Japanese 

 garden plant, is a shrub-like herb 3°-6°, with lanceolate, pointed leaflets, 

 smooth above and appressed-pubescent beneath, and axillary racemes, 

 3'-6' long, of late rose-purple flowers about a half inch in length. Known 

 also as L. BfcoLOR, but that species is probably not cult, in this country. 



t- +- Flowers all alike, perfect, in close spikes or heads, on upright, (2°- 

 4° high) simple, rigid stems ; corolla cream-color or white with a purple 

 spot on the standard, about the length of the silky-downy calyx ; pod 

 included. 



L. polyst^chya, Michx. Leaflets roundish or oblong-ovate ; petioles 

 and peduncles slender ; spikes becoming rather long and loose ; mature 

 pod hardly shorter than calyx. Common. 



L. capit^ta, Michx. Stems rigid, woolly ; leaflets oblong or some- 

 times linear, silky beneath, thickish ; peduncles and petioles short ; 

 flowers in globular heads ; pod much shorter than the calyx. Common. 



L. angU8tif6lia, Ell. Like the last, but leaflets linear, heads oblong 

 on slender peduncles ; pod hardly shorter than calyx. N. J., S. and W. 



* * Stipides and bracts broad and scarious ; naturalized from China and 



Japan. ® 



L. striata, Hook. & Arn. Japan Clover. Low and spreading, 3'-10' 

 high, much branched, almost smooth ; leaflets oblong or wedge-oblong, 

 1'-^' long; peduncles very short, with 1-5 small, purplish flowers. A 

 forage plant in the S. States and Cal. 



