196 A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



ranged finger-fashion. Leaflets broadest towards the blunt 

 tip, which is furnished with a minute soft prickle. Flowers 

 blue, in a showy terminal cluster. Pods very hairy, about i^ 

 in. long. Maine and Ontario to Florida, and westward. June. 



Fig. 594- 



595. Wild Sweet-pea. Cracca virginiana. (Tephrosia vir- 

 giniana.) A silky hairy, ashy grey herb, usually rather weak 

 and sprawling, 1-2 ft. high. Leaflets 9-21, arranged feather- 

 fashion in opposite pairs, with an odd one at the end, not 

 toothed, about }i in. long, and tipped with a soft prickle. 

 Flowers in a terminal cluster, yellowish-purple, very showy. 

 Pod linear, 1-2 in. long, hairy. Maine to Florida, and west- 

 ward. June. Fig. 595. 



596. Leaflets 3. (Pea Family continued.) 



Terminal leaflet distinctly longer stalked than the two side 



ones no. 608 



Leaflets all approximately equally stalked 



Leaflets without teeth Wild Indigo no. 597 



Leaflets minutely but distinctly toothed 

 Flowers in loose spikes or close heads ; pods curved or 



spirally twisted Alfalfa and Medic no. 598 



Flowers in long racemes, white or yellow; plants 3-10 ft. 



tall Melilot no. 601 



Flowers in dense, usually spherical clusters; plants 3-20 

 in. tall Clover no. 602 



597. Wild Indigo. Baptisia tinctoria. A fleshy-stemmed 

 perennial, very deeply rooted, with bluish-green foliage when 

 young, quite smooth; much branched and dome-shaped by 

 autumn, 2-4 ft. high. Leaflets 3, without teeth, broadest to- 

 wards the tip, about ^ in. long. Flowers yellow, in few- 

 flowered racemes, but numerous, and about 3^ in. long. Pod 

 oval or nearly spherical, long-tipped. Whole plant turns black 

 when dry. In dry soil. Ontario and Maine to Florida, and 

 westward. July. Fig. 597. 



598. MEDIC AND ALFALFA. MEDICAGO. 



Low herbs with compound leaves and 3 minutely, but 



