182 LEGUMINOS^. Lespedeza 



late or setaceous : stipelles none. Flowers in axillary pedunculate spikes or racemes, and 

 often with other apetalous and imperfect but fertile ones, mostly in subsessile glomerules. 

 Torr. 4- Gr. 



\ 1. EuLESPEDEZA, Torr. »fc Gr. Flowers of iioo kinds : comphle, but seldom perfecting fruit, in 

 loose few flowered racemes with purple or violet petals; and fertile, but mostly destitute of 

 petals and stamens ; the latter often in separate, nearly sessile glomerules. 



1. Lespedeza procumbens, Michx. Trailing Lespedeza. 



Whole plant woolly-pubescent, except the upper surface of the leaves, procumbent, with 

 the branches assurgent ; leaflets oval, obovate or elliptical, mostly retuse ; peduncles axillary, 

 elongated, few-flowered, sometimes paniculate at the extremity of the branches ; apetalous 

 flowers occupying the lower peduncles, and also often the axils of the lower leaves ; legumes 

 nearly orbicular.— Mic/ia?. jl. 2. p. 70. t. 39 ; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 108 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 408 ; DC. 

 prodr. 2. p. 350 ; Torr. compend. p. 267 ; Beck, hot. p. 88 ; Darlingt. Jl. Cest. p. 422 ; 

 Torr. ^ Gr. Jl. N. Am. 1. p. 366. Hedysarum repens,. Willd. sp. 3. p. 1200. 



Stems numerous, much branched, slender, 2-3 feet long, clothed with a dense whitish 

 spreading pubescence. Leaflets about half an inch long. Common petioles very short in the 

 upper leaves ; in the lower, 3-6 lines long. Calyx slightly 2-lipped, shorter than the corolla 

 (as in all the species of this section) ; the 2 upper segments often united at the base, hairy. 

 Flowers handsome purple tinged with violet. Apetalous flowers sometimes mixed with the 

 others ; the calyx small. Legume more than twice as long as the calyx. 



Sandy fields, dry woods and hill-sides. August. Common in the valley of the Hudson, 

 and on Long Island ; rare in the interior of the Slate. 



2. Lespedeza repens, Torr. S^ Gr: Slender Lespedeza. 



Plant minutely pubescent with appressed hairs, or nearly smooth, diifusely procumbent ; 

 leaflets oval or obovate-elliptical, the uppermost ones emarginate ; petioles mostly very short ; 

 peduncles axillary, elongated, few-flowered, thelower ones (sometimes short) bearing apetalous 

 flowers ; legumes nearly orbicular. — Torr. ^- Gr. Jl. N. Am. 1. p. 367 ; Bart. Jl. Phil. 2. 

 p. 771 L. prostrata, Pursh, Jl. 2. p. 481 ; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 108 ; DC. prodr. a. p. 350 ; 

 Hook. Jl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 156 ; Beck, hot. p. 88. Hedysarum repens, Linn. S2). {ed. 1.) 2. 

 p. 749. H. prostratum, Willd. sp. 3. p. 1200. 



Stems 2 feet or more in length, very slender. Flowers rather smaller, but in other respects, 

 as well as in the fruit, resembhng those of the preceding species^ 



Sandy fields, Long Island. August. 



