132 LEGUMINOS^E. (PULSE FAMILY.) 



straggling ; leaflets 5-15, oblong, varying to obovate-wedge-shaped and oblance- 

 olate; peduncles longer than the leaves, 2 - ^-flowered ; flowers reddish-purple. 

 Dry sandy soil, Virginia and southward. 



14. ASTRAGALUS, L. MILK-VETCH. 



Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla usually long and narrow : standard narrow, equal- 

 ling or exceeding the wings and blunt keel, its sides reflexed or spreading. Sta- 

 mens diadelphous. Stigma minute, terminal. Pod several - many-seeded, various, 

 mostly turgid, one or both sutures usually projecting into the cell, either slightly 

 or so as to divide the cavity lengthwise into two. Seed-stalks slender. Chiefly 

 herbs (ours perennials), with odd-pinnate leaves and spiked or racemed flowers. 

 (The ancient Greek name of a leguminous plant, as also of the ankle-bone; but 

 the connection between the two is past all guess.) 

 1. Pod very thick and juicy when fresh, not stalked in the calyx, 2-celkd, indehiscent, 



or tardily separable into 2 closed portions : stems low, decumbent or ascending : 



leaflets numerous. 



1. A. caryocarpus, Ker. (GROUND PLUM.) Pale and minutely ap- 

 pressed-pubescent ; leaflets narrowly oblong ; flowers in a short spike-like 

 raceme : corolla violet-purple ; fruit glabrous, ovate-globular, more or less pointed, 

 about ' in diameter, very thick-walled, cellular or corky when dry. Upper Mis- 

 sissippi River, thence westward and southward. May. 



2. A. Mexicanus, A. DC. Smoother, or pubescent with looser hairs, 

 larger; leaflets roundish, obovate, or oblong; flowers larger (10" -12" long); 

 calyx softly hairy ; corolla cream-color, bluish only at the tip ; fruit globular, very ob- 

 tuse and pointless, 1' or more in diameter: otherwise like the last: the unripe 

 fruits of both resemble green plums, whence the popular name, and are 

 eaten, raw or cooked, by travellers. (A. trichocalyx, Nutt.) Prairies and open 

 plains, from Illinois opposite St. Louis westward and southward. 



3. A. Platt6nsis, Nutt. Loosely villous; stipules conspicuous; leaflets 

 oblong, often glabrous above ; flowers crowded in a short spike or oblong head, 

 cream-color often tinged or tipped with purple ; fruit ovate, pointed, and with the 

 calyx villous, invar. TENNESSEENSIS (A. Tennesseensis, Gray, in Chapm. S. 

 FL ) oblong and slightly curved, much less fleshy and thick than in the preceding. 

 Gravelly or sandy banks of Illinois River ( Vasey, Slosson, Bebb], thence south- 

 ward and westward. May. 



2. Pod dry and dehiscent, more or less thin-walled, turgid, not stalked in the calyx, 

 completely ^-celled only in No. 4. 



4. A. Canad6nsis, L. Tall and erect (l-4high), somewhat pubes- 

 cent ; leaflets 21 - 27, oblong ; flowers greenish cream-color, very numerous, in long 

 and close spikes ; pods ovoid-oblong, coriaceous, small, completely ^-celled. River- 

 banks : common from N. New York westward and southward. July - Aug. 



5. A. Cobperi, Gray. Nearly smooth, erect (l-2 high); leaflets 11- 

 21, elliptical or oblong, somewhat notched at the end, minutely hoary under- 

 neath; flowers white, rather numerous in a short spike; pods inflated-ovoid (al- 

 most 1' long), thin-walled, one-celled, the dorsal suture slightly, the ventral more 

 decidedly projecting inwards. (Phaca neglecta, Torr. fr Gray. Now named for 



