102 LEGUMINOS^E. (PULSE FAMILY.) 



crowded leaves, and narrowly oblong or linear leaflets, which are often silky. 

 Dry copses, common. Aug. - Sept. Pods ripening from both sorts of flowers. 



4. L,. Stftvei, Nutt. Stems upright-spreading, bushy, downy ; leaflets oval 

 or roundish, longer than the petiole, silky or white-woolly beneath (and some- 

 times above); clusters many-flowered, crowded; pods ovate, downy. Dry hills, 

 and sand, Plymouth, Mass, to Virginia, Michigan, and southward. Appear- 

 ing intermediate between No. 3 and No. 5. 



# # Flowers all alike and perfect, in close spikes or heads : corolla whitish or cream- 

 color with a purple spot on the standard, about the length of the downy calyx: stem* 

 upright, wand-like (2 -4 high). 



5. L.. llil'ta, Ell. Peduncles longer than the leaves ; petioles slender ; leaflets 

 roundish or oval, hairy ; spikes cylindrical, rather loose ; pods nearly as long aa 

 the calyx. (L. polystachia, Michx.) Dry hill-sides. Aug., Sept. 



6. 1*. capitata, Michx. Peduncles and petioles short; leaflets elliptical 

 or oblong, thickish, reticulated and mostly smooth above, silky beneath ; spikes 

 or heads short ; pods much shorter than the calyx. Varies greatly, most of 

 all in var. ANGUSTirdLiA : slender; leaflets linear ; peduncles sometimes elon- 

 gated. Dry and sandy soil ; the narrow variety only found near the coast and 

 southward. Sept. Stems woolly, rigid. 



19. STYL.OSANTHES, Swartz. PENCIL-FLOWER. 



Flowers of two kinds intermixed in the clusters; one sort complete but un- 

 fruitful ; the other fertile, and consisting only of a pistil between 2 bractlets. 

 Calyx with a slender tube like a stalk, 2-lipped at the summit ; upper lip 2-, the 

 lower 3-cleft. Stamens monadelphous : 5 of the anthers linear, the 5 alternate 

 ones ovate. Fertile flowers with a hooked style. Pod reticulated, 1 - 2-jointed ; 

 the lower joint when present empty and stalk-like, the upper ovate. Low 

 perennials, branched from the base, with pinnately 3-foIiolate leaves ; the stipules 

 united with the petiole. (Name composed of orvAos, a column,' and av6os, a 

 flower, from the stalk-like calyx -tube.) 



1. S. elatior, Swartz. Tufted, low, often bristly, wiry; leaflets lanceo- 

 late, strongly straight-veined ; heads or clusters small and few-flowered. Pine 

 barrens, Long Island to Virginia and southward. Also Illinois. Vasey. July- 

 Get. Flowers small, yellow. 



2O. VIC I A, Tourn. VETCH. TARE. 



Calyx 5-cleft or 5-toothed, the 2 upper teeth often shorter. Style thread- 

 shaped, hairy all round the apex or down the outer side (next the keel). Pod 

 2-valved, 2 - several-seeded. Stamens diadelphous, 9 & 1. Seeds globular. 

 Cotyledons very thick, remaining under ground in germination. Climbing 

 herbs. Leaves abruptly pinnate, the petiole terminating in a tendril. Stipules 

 usually half arrow-shaped. (The old Latin name.) 



* Annual : flowers \ - 2 in the axils, nearly sessile, large, violet-purple. 



1. V. SATIVA, L. (COMMON VETCH or TARE.) Somewhat pubescent; 

 *vem simple ; leaflets 5 -7 pairs, varying from obovate-oblong to linear, notched 



