544 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



The yield of seed to the acre ranges from 5 to 12 bushels, 

 and one bushel of clean, unhulled seed weighs about 25 

 pounds. One pound contains about 370,000 seeds. 



FLOKIDA VELVET BEAN (Stizolobium deeringianum) 



662. Description , and history. The Florida velvet 

 bean is a vigorous-growing bean-like vine, introduced 

 into Florida previous to 1875. It is an annual, with 

 much-branched twining stems, which under favorable 

 conditions may attain a length of from 30 to 50 feet, 

 usually growing to about half this length. The leaves 

 are trifoliolate with large, membranaceous leaflets shorter 

 than the petiole. The leaflets are ovate, the lateral ones 

 oblique, and each is attached to a short pubescent stalk. 

 The flowers are dark purple in long pendent racemes. 

 The matured pods are about two inches long, turgid, some- 

 what constricted between the seeds, and covered with a 

 soft, nearly black velvety pubescence. Each pod con- 

 tains three to five, marbled brown and gray seeds. 



The velvet bean will rarely mature its pods as far 

 north as Washington, D.C. As the pods constitute the 

 most valuable part of the plant, it is of importance only 

 where these will, become mature, which area includes 

 Florida and the southern portions of Georgia, Alabama, 

 Mississippi and Louisiana. 



663. Utilization. On account of the long vines and 

 the tangled mass of herbage which it produces, the velvet 

 bean is not a satisfactory hay plant, as it can be cut and 

 cured only with great difficulty. On this account, it is 

 utilized mainly as a pasturage, the stock being turned 

 into the field in the fall after the pods have matured, 

 as cattle will eat not only the pods but also the dry 

 leaves which have fallen to the ground. It is fed mainly 



