96 DIADELPHIA. JDECANDBIA, 



Hab. On sand-hills, on the banks of the Missouri, not far 

 from the confluence of the river Platte. Flowerinj? in May. 

 PsfiralcalongifoUa Ph. 2. suppl. p. 741. See Herb. Lam- 

 bert. Obs. Roots perennial, filiform, creeping. Stems neariy 

 simple, terete below and angular above. Stipules con- 

 nate, distinct from the petioles, ovate, acute, below lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate above. Leaves singularly elongated, 

 much like those of liuligofera JiUfoUd of the Cape of Good 

 Hope; the lowest shortest, often trilbliate. above they are 

 sometimes bijugate (or in 5's), the uppermost simple, 

 scarcely a line wide, and nearly a span long. Racemes 1 

 or 2 in the same axilL, 7 to l6-fiowered; flowers somewhat 

 remote, pale red, nearly as large, but shorter, than 

 those of O. svlvaticus; calix and bractes subulate. Yexii- 

 lum rather broad, stamina diadelphous. Style and minute 

 subcapitate stigma smooth. Legume linear-lanceolate, 

 exserted, flatly compressed, smooth, 8 to 10-seeded. 

 Certainly a very extraordinary species of Orobus, yet in- 

 separable in genus from the preceding; both these spe- 

 cies appear to be somewhat allied to Tephr^oda, but the 

 stamina are diadelphous, and the whole habit and fruit is 

 diflferent from the American species of that genus. 



Orobus is principally an European genus extending, 

 however, into Siberia and Northern Africa; O. fruticosus 

 of Peru is scarcely a congener. 



496. LATHYRUS. L. (VetcUiHg, Everlasting 

 Pea.) 

 Style flat, broader above and villous on the 

 upper side* The upper segments of the calix 

 shorter. 



An heteromorphous and unnatural genus, scarcely dis- 

 tinct from many European species of the preceding. — 

 Stems scandent or diffuse, with tlie angles often alated. 

 by the decurrence of the petioles; stipules cauline, dis- 

 tinct, usually toothed or produced at the base; leaves 

 pseudopinnate, from 1 to 5 pair, (in L. J\'issolia simple, 

 and in L. Aphaca altogether abortive,) common petiole as 

 in the Pea terminating in a divided tendril; peduncles ax- 

 illary and terminal, 1^ 2, and many-flowered. 



Species. 1. L.palustns. 2. miiriJfollus. Near Philadel- 

 phia, o.venosiis. Leaflets about 5 pair. Common in the Al- 

 leghany mountains, growing on the declivities of shady 

 hills. 



4. * polymorphus. Stem quadrangular, naked; stipules 

 .gemisagiitate, lanceolate; leaflets 4 to 5 pair, linear-oblong. 



