LEGUMINOS-fi. (PULSE FAMILY.) 105 



23. A PIOS, Boerh. GROUND-NUT. WILD BEAN. 



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

 one longest. Standard very broad, reflexed : the incurved scythe-shaped keel 

 at length coiled. Stamens diadelphous. Pod straight or slightly curved, 

 linear, elongated, thickish, many-seeded. A perennial herb, bearing edible 

 tubers on underground shoots, twining and climbing over bushes. Leaflets 

 5-7, ovate-lanceolate, not stipellate. Flowers in dense and short, often branch- 

 ing racemes, clustered. (Name from amov. a pear, from the shape of the 

 tubers.) 



1. A. tuber osa, Mcench. (Glycine Apios, L.) Moist thickets, com- 

 mon. Aug. Flowers brown-purple, fragrant. 



24. RHYNCH6SIA, Lour., DC. EHYNCHOSIA. 



Calyx somewhat 2-lipped, or deeply 4-5-parted. Keel scythe-shaped, not 

 twisted. Stamens diadelphous. Ovules 2. Pod 1 - 2-seeded, short and flat, 

 2-valved. Usually twining or trailing perennial herbs, pinnately 3-foliolate, or 

 with a single leaflet, not stipellate. Flowers yellow, racemose or clustered. 

 (Name from pvv%os, a beak, from the shape of the keel.) 



1. R. tomentosa, Torr. & Gray. More or less downy; leaflets round- 

 ish ; racemes short or capitate ; calyx about as long as the corolla, 4-parted, 

 the upper lobe 2-cleft ; pod oblong. Very variable. 



Var. monophylla, Torr. & Gray. Dwarf and upright (3' -6' high) ; 

 leaves mostly of a single round leaflet (l'-2' wide). S. Virginia and south- 

 ward, in dry sandy soil. 



Var. volubilis, Torr. & Gray. Trailing and twining, less downy; leaf- 

 lets 3, roundish ; racemes few-flowered, almost sessile in the axils. S. Virginia 

 and southward. 



Var. c recta, Torr. & Gray. Upright (l-2 high), soft-downy; leaflets 

 3, oval or oblong. Maryland and southward. 



25. GAL.ACTIA, P. Browne. MILK PEA. 



Calyx 4-cleft; the lobes acute, the upper one broadest. Keel scarcely in- 

 curved. Stamens diadelphous. Pod linear, flat, several-seeded (some few of 

 them are occasionally partly subterranean and fleshy or deformed). Low, 

 mostly prostrate or twining perennial herbs. Leaflets usually 3, stipellate. 

 Flowers in somewhat interrupted or knotty racemes, purplish. (Name from 

 yaXa, -a/cros, milk ; some species being said to yield a milky juice, which is un- 

 likely.) 



1. G. glabella, Michx. Stems nearly smooth, prostrate ; leaflets elliptical 

 or ovate-oblong, sometimes slightly hairy beneath ; racemes short, 4 - 8-flowered ; 

 pods somewhat hairy. Sandy woods, S. New York and New Jersey to Virginia 

 near the coast, and southward. July - Sept. Flowers large for the genus, 

 rose-purple. 



2. G. ill 6 His, Michx. Stems (decumbent and somewhat twining) and 



