352 



THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



470. Medicago sativa. 



flowers white, the standard longer than other petals. Europe; common on 

 roadsides. 



M. officinalis, Linn. Yellow sweet clover. Fig. 469. Leaflets obtuse: 

 flowers yellow. Less common than the other. 



11. MEDICAGO. Medick. 

 Clover like plants with small flowers in heads or 



short spikes and toothed leaflets: particularly dis- 

 tinguished by the curved or coiled pod. 



M. sativa, Linn. Alfalfa. Lucerne. Fig. 470. 

 Erect perennial, with ovate-oblong leaflets and short 

 spikes or dense racemes of blue purple flowers. Eu- 

 rope, but grown for fc rage. 



M. lupulina, Linn. Hop clover. Black medick. 

 Trailing clover like plant, with obovate leaflets and yel- 

 low flowers in heads or very short spikes: pod black 

 when ripe. Europe; common weed East. 



12. PHASfiOLTJS. Bean. 



Tender herbs, often twining, the flowers never yellow, and the pinnate 

 leaves of 3 leaflets: flowers usually in clusters on the joints of the raccnio 

 or at the end of the peduncle, the keel (in- 

 closing the essential organs) coiling into 

 a spiral: fruit a true legume. 



P. Vlilg&,ris, Linn. Common beau. 



Figs. 282-3, 285-G, 471. Annual: twining 



(the twining habit bred out in the "bush 



beans"): leaflets ovate, the lateral ones 472. Phuscolus 



unequal-sided: flowers white or purplish, iunatus. 



the racemes shorter than the leaves: pods narrow and 



nearly straight. Probably from tropical America. 



471. Phaseolus vulgaris. P. lunatus, Linn. Lima bean. Fig. 472. Annual: 



tall-twining (also dwarf forms): leaflets large: flowers 



whitish, in racemes shorter than the leaves: pods flat and curved, with a 



few large flat seeds. South America. 



P. multifldrus, Willd. Scarlet runner bean. Peren- 

 nial in warm countries from a tuberous root, tall-twin- 

 ing : leaflets ovate : flowers bright scarlet (white in 

 the "Dutch Case-knife bean") and showy, the racemes 

 exceeding the leaves: pod long and broad but not flat. 

 Tropical America; cultivated for ornament and for food. 



13. VlGNA. Cow-pea. 47 



Vigna 

 Differs from Phaseolus chiefly in technical charac- Sinensis, 



ters, one of which is the curved rather than coiled keel 

 of the flower. 



