Tephrosia. LEGUMINOSiE. 167 



^. Brissonia, Neek. Style longitudinally bearded. Legume more or less velvety or hispid. Sieds 



reniform, compressed. 



1. Tephrosia Virginiana, Pers. Goat's Rue. Catgut. 



Stem villous-pubescent, erect; leaves nearly sessile ; leaflets 8-14 pairs, oblong-linear or 

 elliptical, mucronate, silky villous underneath, minutely silky-pubescent above ; calyx very 

 villous, the segments acuminate and cuspidate, about the length of tlie tube. — Pers. syn. 2. 

 p. 329 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 245 , Nutt. gen. 2. p. 119 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 248 ; Hook. fl. Bor.- 

 Am. 1. p. 139 ; Beck, hot. p. 81 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 409 ; Torr. <^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. 

 p. 296. Galega Virginiana, Linn.; Willd. sp. 3. p. 1244; Michx. fl. 2. p. 67. 



Roots slender, long and tough. Whole plant clothed with a whitish pubescence. Stems 

 about a foot high, usually clustered, sometimes inclined. Leaflets about an inch long, of 

 variable breadth, sometimes only about 2 lines wide, but more commonly about one-third of 

 an inch. Flowers in a dense terminal raceme, about the size of a pea-blossom, dull yellow 

 handsomely tinged with purple. Legume about 2 inches long and 3 lines wide, villous, 

 6 - 8-seeded. Seeds brownish, often speckled. 



Dry sandy soils ; often on hill-sides : rather common. Fl. Middle of June to the end of 

 July. Fr. September. Dr. Darlington states that an infusion of the root is a popular 

 vermifuge. 



Tribe IV. TRIFOLIEjE. Broun. 



Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens diadelphaus (9 <^ 1). Legume continuous, one-celled, 

 dehiscent and several-seeded, or nearly indehiscent with one or few seeds. Radicle 

 inflexed. — Erect or procianbent, mostly loto herbs, rarely somewhat shrubby. Leaves 

 palmately or pinnately trifoliolate, without stipelles : leaflets often toothed or serrulate ! 

 Iriflorescence in racemes, spikes, heads or umbels, which are either terminal or axillary. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA. 



11. Trifolium. Legumes (small) mostly shorter than the calyx, one- or several-seeded, mciiiliranaccous, indehiscent, 



or only opening by the ventral suture. — Flowers more or less capitate. 

 13. Meliloti/3. Legume globose or ovoid, longer than the calyx, rugose, scarcely dehiscent. — Flowers in racemose 



spikes. 

 13. Medicago. Legume falcate or spirally twisted, compressed, membranaceous. 



11. TRIFOLIUM. Tourn.inst.t.'2,2H;Endl.gcn.65n. CLOVER. TREFOIL. 



[ Named from the Latin, Ires, three, and folium, a leaf.] 



Calyx tubular or campanulale, 5-cIeft or 5-toothed ; the segments or teeth subulate or seta- 

 ceous. Corolla mostly persistent or marccscent ; the petals all usually more or less united 

 at the base, free from (or occasionally coherent with) the slamcn-tubc. Vcxillum longer 



