172 LEGUMINOSiE. Medicago. 



great repute in England and the United States ; and though now generally neglected, it is a 

 favorite with some intelligent agriculturalists. The late Jesse Buel, Esq. of Albany, cultivated 

 it with great success. Its average duration is ten or twelve years. 



2. Medicago lupulina, Linn. Black Medick, or Nonesuch. 



Stem procumbent ; leaflets obovate-cuneate, toothed at the apex ; stipules nearly entire ; 

 flowers in capitate spikes , legumes reniform, one-seeded. — Engl. hot. t. 971 ; Michx. fl. 2. 

 p. 60 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 247 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 172 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 278 ; Beck, bot. p. 78 ; 

 Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 405 ; Torr. ^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. p. 322. 



Root annual. Stems 6 — 12 inches long, several spreading from the same root, pubescent. 

 Leaflets about half an inch long, often broadly obovate, or nearly orbicular. Peduncles usually 

 longer than the leaves. Heads of flowers at first roundish, about one-fourth of an inch in 

 diameter, at length oblong. Corolla pale yellow. Legumes black when ripe, reticulated with 

 elevated curved lines. 



Fields and cultivated grounds, road-sides, etc. ; common. June - August. Introduced 

 from Europe, 



Several other species of this genus are occasionally found in the neighborhood of cloth 

 factories, having been introduced in foreign wool ; but they can hardly be considered as yet 

 naturalized. 



Tribe V. ASTRAGALEjE. Adam. 



Corolla papilionaceous. Stamen diadelphous (9 <^ 1). Legumes continuous, turgid or 

 inflated {rarely flattened), often spuriously 2-celled by the introflexion of one of the 

 sutures, dehiscent, mostly several-seeded. Cotyledons foliaceous in germination : radicle 

 incurved. — Herbaceous {all the North American species), or rarely somewhat shrubby. 

 Leaves unequally pinnate {very rarely palmately trifoliolate), without stipelles. In- 

 florescence axillary or radical, racemose or spiked. 



14. ASTRAGALUS. Linn, (partly) ; Endl. gen. 6573. milk VETCH. 



[A name given by the Greeks to a leguminous plant supposed to be of this genus.] 



Calyx 5-toothed. Keel obtuse. Legume longitudinally more or less perfectly 2-celled by 

 the introflexion of the lower (dorsal) suture. — Herbaceous, more or less canescent plants ; 

 the hairs often fixed by the middle. Leaflets numerous. Stipules often adhering to the 

 base of the petiole. Flowers in spikes or racemes. 



1. Astragalus Canadensis, Linn. (Plate XXV.) Canadian Milk Vetch. 



Tall and erect, canescent ; stipules broadly lanceolate, acuminate, not cohering with the 

 petiole, nor with each other ; leaflets usually 10 (rarely 12 - 14) pairs, elliptical or oblong, 



