OF THE 



f UNIVERSITY 



. (1'ULSL rAMlLJi) 97 



1. T. Virginiana, Pers. (GOAT'S RDE. CATGUT.) Silky-vilbus with 

 whitish hairs when young ; stem erect and simple (1 - 2 high), leafy to the top ; 

 leaflets 17-29, linear-oblong; flowers large and numerous, clustered in a termi- 

 nal oblong dense raceme or panicle, yellowish- white marked with purple. Dry 

 jandy soil. June, July. Roots long and slender, very tough. Flower almost 

 as large as a pea-blossom. 



2. T. Spicata* Torr. & Gray. Villous with rusty hairs; stems branched 

 below, straggling or ascending (2 long), few-leaved ; leaflets 9-15, obovate or 

 oblong-wedge-shaped, often notched at the end ; Jlowers few, in a loose inter- 

 rupted spike raised on a very long peduncle, reddish. Dry soil, E. Virginia and 

 southward. July. 



3. X. hispid Ilia, Pursh. Hairy with some long and rusty or only 

 minute and appressed pubescence; stems slender (9' -24' long), divergently 

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

 and oblanceolate ; peduncles longer than the leaves, 2 - 4 Jloivered ; flowers reddish- 

 purple. Dry sandy soil, Virginia and southward. 



14. ASTRAGALUS, L. MILK- VETCH. 



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

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

 Stamens diadelphous. Pod several - many-seeded, various, mostly turgid, one 

 or both sutures usually projecting into the cell, either slightly or to such a de- 

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

 herbs, 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 connec- 

 tion between the two is past all guess.) 



$ 1. Pod very thick and juicy when fresh, globular, resembling a plum, 2-celled, indo- 

 hiscent, or tardily separable through Hie partition into 2 closed portions. 



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

 apprcssed-pubescent ; stems low, decumbent; leaflets numerous, narrowly ob- 

 long ; flowers in a short spike-like raceme ; corolla violet-purple ; fruit glabrous, 

 ovate-globular, more or less pointed, about f in diameter. 1J. Dry soil, on the 

 Mississippi River, at the junction of the St. Peter's, and westward and south- 

 ward. May. 



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

 larger ; stems usually ascending ; leaflets roundish, obovate, or oblong ; flo\vers 

 larger (10"- 12" long) ; calyx softly hairy; corolla cream-color, bluish only at tie 

 tip ; fruit globular, very obtuse and pointless, 1 ' or more in diameter : otherwise 

 like the last : the unripe fruits of both are edible, and are eaten, raw or cooked, 

 by travellers. (A. trichocalyx, Nutt.) Prairies and open plains, from Illinois 

 opposite St. Louis westward and southward. 



fc 2. Pod dry and dehiscent, partly or completely 2-celled by the turning inward of the 



dorsal suture. 



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

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



