HARPERS GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



All these plants have purple corollas, generally rough stems, 

 and variable, 3-foliate leaves. 



The D. nudiflorum bears racemes of pedicelled flowers on, 

 generally, leafless scapes 2 feet high. The 3-foliate leaves 

 are numerous on the end of a flowerless stem, attended by 

 bristly stipules. Pod raised on a stalk longer than the 

 pedicels. One of the most common species. Dry woods in 

 all the Eastern States. 



D. rotundifblium has round leaflets. The racemes of deep- 

 purple flowers appear, with the leaves, in the axils and on the ends 

 of branches. Stems, prostrate and softly hairy. Both margins 

 of the pod strongly wavy or scalloped. 



Massachusetts to Florida. Dry woods. 



D. grandiflorum bears blossoms and leaves on the same stem. 

 Leaves crowd the top of the stem, none below, and the raceme 

 of flowers rises above them. Leaflets, 4 to 5 inches long, broad, 

 pointed. 



Rich woods, Maine to Ontario and southward. 



D. bracteosum is ascending, with straight stems. Leaflets, 4 or 

 5 inches long, lance-shaped, pointed, with large stipules and 

 bracts. Petioles, shorter than the leaflets. Pods, with several 

 long joints. 



In thickets and dense woods, New Hampshire to Minne- 

 sota and southward. 



D. paniculktitm has numerous drooping panicles of flowers on 

 tall, straight stems. Leaflets, thin, narrow, oblong to lance- 

 shaped, 3 to 5 inches long. Stem, for the genus, smooth, slender, 

 and tall. 



Maine to Minnesota and southward. 



D. canadense. — This is the tallest of the desmodiums, 3 to 6 feet 

 high. It has coarse, hairy stems, with large, showy flowers. 

 Stipules, small. Racemes bearing many flowers, and pods of 

 few roundish joints. 



Open woods and banks of streams from North Carolina 

 northward, throughout the Eastern States. The flowers of 

 Desmodium appear in late summer or early fall. The specific 

 names generally indicate some peculiarity of the different 

 species, but most people will be satisfied to recognize the 



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