506 LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 



* Racemes many, short and loose, terminal, often leafy at base ; flowers yellow. 



1. B. tinctbria (L.) R. Br. (WILD INDIGO.) Smooth and slender, 3-9 dm. 

 high, rather glaucous; leaves almost sessile; leaflets wedge-obovate, 1.5-2.6 

 cm. long ; stipules and bracts minute and deciduous ; pods ovoid-globose, on a 

 stalk longer than the calyx. Dry woods and plains, s. N. H. to Fla. , locally 

 westw. to Ky. and Minn. June-Sept. 



* * Racemes fewer, opposite the leaves. 

 -t- Flowers yellow. 



2. B. vill&sa (Walt.) Ell. Sometimes soft-hairy, usually minutely pubescent 

 when young, erect, 6-9 dm. high, with divergent branches ; leaves almost 

 sessile ; leaflets wedge-lanceolate or obovate ; lower stipules lanceolate and 

 persistent, on the branchlets often small and subulate ; racemes many-flowered , 

 pedicels short ; bracts subulate, mostly deciduous ; pods ovoid-ellipsoid, taper- 

 pointed, minutely pubescent. Va. to N. C. and Ark. May, June. 



- - Flowers white or cream-color. 



3. B. bracteata (Muhl.) Ell. Hairy, low (3 dm. high), with divergent 

 branches ; leaves almost sessile ; leaflets narrowly oblong-obovate or spatulate ; 

 stipules and bracts large and leafy, persistent; racemes long (often 3 dm.), 

 reclined ; flowers on elongated pedicels, cream-color ; pods pointed at both ends, 

 hoary. (B. leucophaea Nutt.) Prairies, Mich, to Minn., s. to Tex. May. 



4. B. leucantha T. & G. Smooth, tall, and stout ; leaflets oblong-wedge- 

 form, obtuse; stipules early deciduous; flowers white; pods ovoid-ellipsoid, 

 on a stalk fully twice the length of the calyx. Alluvial soil, Ont. and 0. to 

 Minn., s. to Fla. and La. June, July. 



5. B. alba (L.) R. Br. Smooth, 3-9 dm. high, the branches slender and 

 widely spreading ; petioles slender ; stipules and bracts minute and deciduous ; 

 leaflets oblong or oblanceolate ; racemes slender, on a long naked peduncle ; 

 pods linear-oblong, 2.5-4 cm. long, short-stalked. Dry soil, N. C. to Fla. and 

 Ala.; and reported from Ind., Mo., etc. May. 



H- -i- <- Flowers indigo-blue. 



6. B. australis (L.) R. Br. (BLUE F.) Smooth, tall and stout (1.2-1.6 m. 

 high); leaflets oblong-wedge-form, obtuse; stipules lanceolate, as long as the 

 petioles, rather persistent ; raceme elongated (3-6 dm.) and many-flowered, 

 erect ; bracts deciduous ; stalk of the ovoid-ellipsoid pods about the length of 

 the calyx. Alluvial soil, Pa. to Ga., w. to s. Ind., Kan. and Ark.; cultivated 

 eastw., and established on alluvium of Ct. R. and tributaries, Vt. May, June. 

 Hybridizes with B. bracteata, according to Hitchcock. 



10. THERM6PSIS R. Br. 



Pod sessile or shortly stipitate in the calyx, flat, linear, straight or curved. 

 Otherwise nearly as Baptisia. Perennial herbs, with palmately 3-f oliolate 

 leaves and foliaceous stipules, not blackening in drying, and yellow flowers in 

 terminal racemes. (Name from dtppos, the lupine, and fl^ts, appearance.} 



1. T. m611is (Michx.) M. A. Curtis. Finely appressed-pubescent, 4-6 dm. 

 high; leaflets rhombic-lanceolate, 2.5-7.5 cm. long; stipules narrow, mostly 

 shorter than the petiole ; raceme elongated ; pods narrow, short-stipitate, some- 

 what curved, 5-10 cm. long. Mts. of s.Va., N. C., and Tenn. May. 



11. CLADRASTIS Raf. YELLOW WOOD. VIRGILIA 



Calyx 5-toothed. Standard large, roundish, reflexed ; the distinct keel-petals 

 and wings straight, oblong. Stamens 10, distinct ; filaments slender, incurved 

 above. Pod short-stalked above the calyx, linear, flat, thin, marginless, 4-6- 

 seeded, at length 2-valved. A handsome tree, with yellow wood (yielding a 

 dye), smooth bark, nearly smooth pinnate leaves of 7-11 oval or ovate leaflets, 

 and ample panicled racemes (2.5-5 dm. long) of showy white flowers drooping 



