140 LEGUMINOSJE. (PULSE FAMILY.) 



elliptical ; upper stipules much larger : corolla pale purple. (L. myrtifolius, 

 Muhl.) W. New England to Virginia and northward, July. Ordinarily 

 appears quite distinct from L. palustris ; but intermediate specimens occur. 



5. L. PRATENSIS, L. Low and straggling ; leaflets a single pair, narrow- 

 lanceolate ; stipules large ; peduncles several-flowered ; corolla yellow. Spon- 

 taneous and abundant along the Connecticut at West Springfield, Mass., 

 A. P. Foster. July. (Adv. from Eu.) 



24. API OS, Boerhaave. GROUND-NUT. WILD BEAN. 



Calyx somewhat 2-lipped, the 2 lateral teeth being nearly obsolete, the upper 

 very short, the lower one longest. Standard very broad, reflexed : the long 

 scythe-shaped keel strongly incurved, at length coiled. Stamens diadelphous. 

 Pod straight or slightly curved, linear, elongated, thickish, many-seeded. A 

 perennial herb (with some milky juice !), bearing edible tubers on underground 

 shoots, twining and climbing over bushes. Leaflets 5-7, ovate-lanceolate, ob- 

 scurely stipellate. Flowers in dense and short, often branching racemes. 

 (Name from airiov, a pear, from the shape of the tubers.) 



1. A. tuberbsa, Mcench. (Glycine Apios, L.) Low grounds ; common. 

 Aug. - Sept. Flowers brown purple, or chocolate-color, violet-scented. 



25. PHASEOLUS, L. KIDNEY BEAN. 



Calyx 5-toothed or 5-cleft, the two upper teeth often higher united. Keel of 

 the corolla, with the included stamens and style, spirally coiled or curved into 

 a ring. Stamens diadelphous. Style bearded along the upper side : stigma 

 oblique or lateral. Pod linear or scythe-shaped, several - many-seeded, tipped 

 with the hardened base of the style. Cotyledons thick and fleshy, rising out 

 of the ground nearly unchanged in germination. Twining or prostrate herbs, 

 with pinnately 3-foliolate stipellate leaves. Flowers often clustered on the 

 knotty joints of the raceme, produced in summer and autumn. (The ancient 

 name of the Kidney Bean.) 



* Pods scymetar-shaped : racemes long and loose, panicled. 



1. P. perdnnis, Walt. (WILD BEAN.) Stem climbing high from a per- 

 ennial root; leaflets roundish-ovate, short-pointed; pods drooping, strongly 

 curved, 4-5-seeded. Copses, Connecticut to Illinois, and southward. Flow- 

 ers purple, handsome, but small. 



* * Pods long and straight, linear, rather terete : flowers few in a short clustered and 

 long-peduncled raceme. (Strophdstyles, Ell.) 



2. P. diversifdlius, Pers. Annual; stem prostrate, spreading, rough- 

 hairy ; leaflets ovate-3-lobed, or angled towards the base, or some of them oblong- 

 ovate and entire ; peduncles at length twice the length of the leaves. Sandy 

 fields and banks, coast of Massachusetts and along the Great Lakes to 

 Illinois and southward. Corolla greenish-white, tinged with red or purple. 

 Pod thickish. 



3. P. h^lvolus, L. Perennial, hairy ; stems diffuse, slender ; leaflets ovate 

 or oblong, entire or obscurely angled ; peduncles 3-6 times the length of the leaves. 

 Sandy fields, S. New York to Illinois and southward. More slender than 

 the last : pods narrower : flowers as large and similar. 



