202 A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



617. BUSH-CLOVER. LESPEDEZA. 



A difficult group of plants to identify; erect or trailing, 

 with compound leaves, and 3 leaflets, the central leaflet al- 

 ways longer stalked than the side ones. Flowers of two sorts, 

 one with petals and mostly sterile, the other without petals, 

 but setting fruit, and these are often intermixed. Flowers 

 few in sparse clusters, or in dense head-like clusters. Fruit 

 a small jointed pod, the joints not obvious as in the Tick- 

 trefoils. Of the dozen species known in the area, the four 

 following are typical of the most widely known: 

 Stems prostrate, almost vine-like. .. .Trailing Bush-clover no. 618 

 Stems erect, often stiff, and partly woody 

 Flowers purplish 



Flower cluster open, its stalks exceeding the leaves 



Bush-clover no. 619 



Flower cluster contracted, its stalks shorter than the leaves 



Bush-clover no. 620 



Flowers whitish, in dense clusters Dusty-clover no. 621 



618. Trailing Bush-clover. Lespcdcza procumhcns. A trail- 

 ing hairy vine-like herb, 1-3 ft. long, with ascending branches 

 usually about 6 in. high. Leaflets oval, about ^ in. long. 

 Flowers purple, about 3^ in. long, in a long-stalked loose, 

 few-flowered cluster. Pods hairy, nearly round, about % in. 

 in diameter. In dry places. New Hampshire to Florida, and 

 westward. August. Fig. 618. A close relative, L. re pens, dif- 



