FLORA OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 183 



indehiscent reticulated joint. An artificially distinguished group, having the foliage and 

 other characters sometimes of the Lotex, sometimes of the Galegese, or of the Phaseolese. 



5. DESMODIUM De Cand. 



Calyx campanulate, with 4 acuminate teeth or lobes ; the upper one 

 2-toothed or 2-cleft; or rarely equally 5-cleft. Petals narrow, the 

 standard obovate, the wings usually adhering laterally to the keel, 

 which has often on each side at the point of adhesion a small oblique 

 membraneous appendage. , Stamens either monadelphous, with the 

 sheath open on the upper side, or the upper stamen more or less free. 

 Ovary sessile or stipitate, with two or more ovules. Style glabrous, 

 with a minute terminal stigma. Pod consisting of two or more flat 

 joints, usually reticulate, and often muricate ; the joints mostly inde- 

 hiscent. Herbs or shrubs. Leaves with 1-3 leaflets. Flowers usu- 

 ally small, in terminal or leaf-opposed racemes or panicles, or rarely 

 in axillary clusters. 



A large genus, widely dispersed over the tropical regions of the New and Old Worlds, 

 with a few species in extratropical N. America, S. America, S. Africa, and Australia. 



1. D. SANDWICENSE E. Meyer. (Enum. No. 102.) A decumbent or 

 erect perennial, l-2 high; branches, peduncles, petioles, &c., 

 pubescent with brownish hairs. Leaves trifoliplate, leaflets ovate, 

 obtuse or acute, glabrous above, hirsute beneath, especially on the 

 midrib and veins, 7"- 18" long, 3"- 10" wide, the terminal one larger 

 than the two lateral ones, and on a short stock. Stipules small, ca- 

 ducous. Racemes 3'- 6' long. Flowers 3" -4" long, on slender pedi- 

 cels, a little shorter than they. Calyx lobes longer than the tube, 

 acute from a broad base. Pod short-stipitate, 5 - 10-jointed and 

 seeded, 1' long, more or less, l" wide. Joints easily separating and 

 adhering to anything rough, as fleece or clothes. 



Common everywhere in land not too dry. An important forage plant and generally 

 known as " Spanish Clover," but not a true clover. 



2. D. TRIFLORUM DC. (Enum. No. 103.) Stems slender, much 

 branched, prostrate or creeping, often not above a few inches long, 

 and sometimes spreading to 1 or 2 long. Leaflets 3, broadly obcord- 

 ate or obovate, 3" -4" or rarely 6" long and broad, glabrous or 

 sprinkled with silky hairs. Flowers pink, scarcely 2" long, on slender 

 pedicels of 2" -6" -8" long, usually 2 together opposite the leaves. 

 Pod sessile, 4" -7" long, slightly curved, pubescent or glabrous, the 

 upper edge continuous, the lower slightly indented, consisting of 3 - 6 

 nearly square joints which sometimes separate, but frequently remain 

 attached and open along the outer edge to shed their seed. 



Not uncommon in grassy places ; probably introduced. Common in tropical Asia and 

 Africa, and in some parts of tropical America. 



