HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



the other, all united and becoming sponge-like, inclosing the pod. 

 Stamens, 6, their filaments in pairs above, united into a tube be- 

 low. Pod, i -celled. Leaves, alternate, thrice-pinnate, the deli- 

 cate leaflets divided into very small lobes, pale green underneath, 

 thin, on slender petioles by which the plant climbs. Flowers, in 

 leaf-axils, drooping, panicled. June to October. 



A lovely plant, weak-stemmed, climbing over shrubs and 

 herbs, in wet grounds or recently burned-over woods, from 

 New England to Michigan and southward to North Carolina, 

 where it may be found in the mountains. 



Blue Vetch 



Vtcia Cracca. — Family, Pulse. Color, blue, becoming purplish, 

 occasionally white. Calyx, short, with unequal teeth. Corolla, 

 papilionaceous. Flowers, 2 men long in densely flowered racemes, 

 not drooping, i -sided, axillary, long-peduncled. Leaves, sessile, 

 pinnate, of 10 to 12 pairs of sharply pointed leaflets, terminated 

 by tendrils. June to August. 



A climbing, herbaceous, perennial vine, softly downy along 

 the stems, found not infrequently along roadsides and in 

 borders of thickets or in fields, where its bright blue flowers 

 are conspicuous. From New England to New Jersey, Ken- 

 tucky, and westward. 



Hairy Vetch or Tare 



V. hirsuta. — Color, pale purplish blue. Flowers, 3 to 6 to- 

 gether, on peduncles, arising from the axils, the raceme a little 

 shorter than the leaves. Pod, hairy. Leaves, of 12 to 14 leaflets, 

 terminated by 2 or 3 delicate tendrils, the leaflets cut square at 

 apex, notched, nearly sessile. May to September. 



A climbing vetch which may be known by prominent 

 stipules, long-eared or toothed. Waste places and dry fields 

 over the Eastern and Middle States. 



V. carolinikna. — Color, whitish, the keel of the papilionaceous 

 corolla tipped with blue. Flowers, small, less densely clustered 

 than in the preceding racemes, shorter than the leaves, somewhat 

 drooping. Leaves, of 4 to 9 pairs of linear, smooth, entire leaflets, 

 terminating with one or more tendrils. May to July. 



Trailing or climbing, stem slender, 2 to 3 feet long. River- 

 banks from New England to Georgia, westward to Minnesota 

 and Kansas. 



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