LEGUMINOS^. (PULSE FAMILY.) 135 



bracts scale-like, often striate. (Name from Sea-pos, a bond or chain, from the 



connected joints of the pods.) 



1. Pod raised on a stalk within the calyx (stipe) many times longer than the slightly 

 toothed calyx and nearly as long as the pedicel, straiyhtish on the upper margin, 

 deeply sinuate on the lower ; the 1-4 joints mostly half-obovate and concave on 

 the back: stamens monadelphous below: plants nearly glabrous: stems erect or 

 ascending: raceme terminal, panicled : stipules bristle-form, deciduous. 



1. D. nudifldrum, DC. Leaves all crowded at the summit of sterile stems; 

 leaflets broadly ovate, bluntish, whitish beneath ; raceme elongated on an ascend- 

 ing mostly leafless stalk or scape from the root, 2 long. Dry woods : common. 



2. D. acuminatum, DC. Leaves all crowded at the summit of the stem from 

 which arises the elongated naked raceme or panicle; leaflets round-ovate, taper- 

 pointed, green both sides, the end one round (4' -5' long). Rich woods. 



3. D. pauciL6mm, DC. Leaves scattered along the low (8' -15' high) 

 ascending stems; leaflets rhombic-ovate, bluntish, pale beneath; raceme few- 

 flowered, terminal. Woods, W. New York and Pennsylvania to Illinois and 

 southward. 



2. Pod raised on a stalk (stipe] little if not all surpassing the deeply-cleft calyx : 

 stems long and prostrate or decumbent : racemes axillary and terminal. 



* Stipules conspicuous, ovate, taper-pointed, striate, persistent : racemes mostly simple. 



4. D. rotundifblium, DC. Soft-hairy all over, truly prostrate; leaflets 

 orbicular, or the odd one slightly rhomboid ; flowers purple ; pods almost equally 

 sinuate on both edges, 3 - 5-jointed ; the joints rhomboid-oval. Dry rocky 

 woods : rather common. 



Var. glabratum : almost glabrous, otherwise nearly as the ordinary form. 

 (Hedysarum humifusum, Muhl. in part, Bigel., &c.) Mass., New York, &c. 



5. D. OChroleilCUm, M.A.Curtis. Stems sparsely hairy, decumbent ; leaf- 

 lets nearly glabrous, ovate, acute or obtuse, transversely reticulated ^beneath, 

 the lateral ones smaller or sometimes wanting; racemes much elongated; 

 corolla whitish ; pods twisted, 2 - 4-jointed, the large rhomboid joints smooth and 

 reticulated but the margins downy. (Perhaps Muhlenberg's H. humifusum 

 from "Carolina.") Woodlands, Maryland ( W. M. Canby) and southward. 



* * Stipules smaller, lanceolate and awl-shaped, less persistent : racemes panicled. 



6. D. humiftlSUm, Beck (as to syn.). Glabrous or nearly so, procum- 

 bent ; leaflets ovate or ovate-oblong, rather obtuse, much smaller than in the two 

 preceding (U'-2' long) ; corolla purple; pods 2 -4-jointed, flat, the oval-rhom- 

 boid joints minutely scabrous throughout. (Hedysarum humifusum, Muhl. Fl. 

 Lancast. herb., ex Canby.) Dry sandy soil (Lancaster, Penn., Muhlenberg), 

 Salisbury, Maryland, W. M. Canby. 



3. Pod slightly if at all stalked in the calyx: racemes panicled. 



* Stems tall (3 -5) and erect; the persistent stipules and deciduous bracts large 



and conspicuous, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed : pods of 4 7 unequal- 

 sided rhombic joints, which are considerably longer than broad, about ' long. 

 (Flowers rather large.) 



7. D. candscens, DC. Stem loosely branched, hairy; leaflets ovate, 

 bluntish, about the length of the petioles, whitish and reticulated beneath, both sides 



