PULSE FAMILY 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: beach sand. 



THE PLANT: semi-prostrate, one foot to two feet long; the 

 stem branched, sharply angled, without hairs, fleshy. 



THE LEAVES: numerous; alternate; pinnately compound 

 in three to six parts, the leaflets oval or oblong, above 

 hairless, below with short hairs, mucronate at the apex, 

 narrowed at the base, beautifully veined. At the base of 

 the leaves are a pair of conspicuous arrow-shaped stipules, 

 nearly as large as the leaflets. 



THE FLOWERS: seldom solitary, usually six to ten in a 

 raceme on hairy peduncles, the individual flowers on short, 

 magenta-coloured hairy pedicels; the calyx tinged with 

 magenta, notched; the keel petals are very light, edged 

 with darker. 



THE FRUIT: a pod, linear-oblong, hairless and veined, 

 sometimes three inches long. 



A semi-prostrate plant, that spreads over the sand, its 

 stiff and rather heavy appearing branches. On one side of 

 the branches grow the "ruddy-purple" bean-shaped blos- 

 soms, that make the Beach Pea one of the few brightly 

 colored flowers of the shore line. Under the hot sun- 

 shine, the thick, oval leaflets tend to fold together, to avoid 

 evaporation. 



LEGUMINOS^E PULSE FAMILY 



Apios tuber osa, Mcench. 



Maroon and pale Ground-nut, Pig-potato, 



brown-lilac Wild-bean, Indian-potato, 



Ground-pea, White-apple, 



August-September Trailing-pea, Travelers'- 



Potato-pea, delight. 



Apios: from Greek for a pear, from the shape of the tubers. 

 Tuberosa: Latin for a swelling or tuber. 



169 



