LEGUMINOS.E 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of roadsides, 

 along the wharves, near dwellings, in dump-heaps. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to five feet high, much 

 branched; the branches fairly erect; the stem hairless. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; compound, the leaflets oblong, 

 tending to oblanceolate, cut off, notched or rounded at the 

 apex, narrowed at the base, serrate; the whole leaf petioled. 



THE FLOWERS: in slender, one-sided racemes, which are 

 sometimes four inches long. 



THE FRUIT: an ovoid, hairless pod. 



A rank-growing plant, or a tall, stiffly branched bush 

 with small, dark green clover-like leaves. When in bloom 

 it proclaims its presence by the delicate fragrance of the 

 many tiny white flowers that pass down the stem in a one- 

 sided raceme, which is sometimes four inches long. 



It is a wholesome adventive for the garden patch. " As 

 a soil renovator," when the deep roots break up the ground , 

 aerating and draining it, it is useful as well as when, 

 decayed, it furnishes the soil with humus. On its roots 

 it bears "many tubercles which contain beneficent nitro- 

 gen-gathering bacteria. It is often used to prepare the 

 ground for alfalfa." Also, from it is made a valuable drug. 



LEGUMINOS^E PULSE FAMILY 



Medicago lupulina, L. 



Yellow Nonesuch, Melilot-trefoil, 



Beach Medick, Horned Clover, 

 July-September Black Trefoil, Hop Clover. 



Medicago: the Greek name for the alfalfa, which came to 



the Greeks from Media. 

 Lupulina: Latin diminutive for wolf. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil, frequently 

 about the wharves. 



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