122 POLYGALACE^E. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 



deltoid-ovate, slightly heart-shaped, tapering to a bristly point or rarely point- 

 less; caruncle nearly as long as the seed. Margin of swamps, Maine to 

 Va. and southward near the coast, and west to Minn, and Neb. 



11. P. brevifblia, Nutt. Rather slender, branched above; leaves scat- 

 tered on the branches, narrower; spikes ped uncled ; wings lanceolate-ovate, 

 pointless or barely mucronate. Margin of sandy bogs, R. I., N. J., and 

 southward. 



- -h- Spikes slender (about 2" thick), the bracts falling with the flowers, which 

 are small, greenish-white or barely tinged with purple, the crest of the keel 

 larger. 



12. P. verticillata, L. Slender (6-10' high), much branched; stem- 

 leaves all whorled, those of the (mostly opposite) branches scattered, linear, 

 acute ; spikes peduncled, usually short and dense, acute ; wings round, clawed ; 

 the 2-lobed caruncle half the length of the seed. Dry soil ; common. 



Var. ambigua. Leaves (and branches) all scattered or the lowest in fours ; 

 spikes long-peduncled, more slender, the flowers often purplish and scattered. 

 (P. ambigua, Nutt.) N. Y. to Mo., and southward. 

 * * * * Biennials or annuals, with alternate leaves, and yellow flowers, which 



are disposed to turn greenish in drying ; crest small ; flowering all summer. 



13. P. Itltea, L. Low ; flowers (bright orange-yellow) in solitary ovate or 

 oblong heads (' thick) terminating the stem or simple branches; leaves (1 -2' 

 long) obovate or spatulate ; lobes of the caruncle nearly as long as the seed. 

 Sandy swamps, N. J and southward, near the coast. 



14. P. ram6sa, Ell. Flowers (citron-yellow) in numerous short and dense 

 spike-like racemes collected in a flat-topped compound cyme; leaves oblong- 

 linear, the lowest spatulate or obovate ; seeds ovoid, minutely hairy, twice the 

 length of the caruncle. Damp pine-barrens, Del. and southward. 



15. P. cymdsa, Walt. Stem short, naked above, the numerous racemes 

 in a usually nearly simple cyme ; leaves narrow, acuminate ; seeds globose, 

 without caruncle. Del. and southward. 



ORDER 32. LEGUMHSTOSJE. (PULSE FAMILY.) 



Plants with papilionaceous or sometimes regular flowers, 10 (rarely 5 and 

 sometimes many) monad 'elphous, diadelphous, or rarely distinct stamens, and 

 a single simple free pistil, becoming a legume in fruit. Seeds mostly with- 

 out albumen. Leaves alternate, with stipules, usually compound. One of 

 the sepals inferior (i. e. next the bract) ; one of the petals superior (i. e. 

 next the axis of the inflorescence). A very large order (nearly free 

 from noxious qualities), of which the principal representatives in north- 

 ern temperate regions belong to the first of the three suborders it 

 comprises. 



SUBORDER I. Papilionaceae. Calyx of 5 sepals, more or less 

 united, often unequally so. Corolla inserted into the base of the calyx, 

 of 5 irregular petals (or very rarely fewer), more or less distinctly papil- 

 ionaceous, i. e. with the upper or odd petal (vexillum or standard) larger 

 than the others and enclosing them in the bud, usually turned backward 



