96 PULSE FAMILT. 



«. ^ Pod indehiseent, very tUcJc, 1 - Z-seeded. Calyx with a ^/''^['S^'^^ 

 or stalk-like tube. Leaves abruptly pinnate : stipules umled mth the petiole^ 

 at base. 



20. ABACHIS. Annual. Leaflets 4, straight-veined, f °y«^« ,3"' ^."""Jv^ 



axillarv heads or spikes. Ca vx with one narrow lobe mak ug a lower Jip, 

 ?he upper lip M and 4-to6thed. Keel incurved and pointed Stamens 

 tnonadriohous, 5 anthers longer and fixed by near their base, the alternate 

 res^ioHnd' fixed bv their fniddle. Ovary at the bottom of the very long 

 and^talk-like tube of the calyx, containing 2 or 3 ovule.: when the long styte 

 and the calyx with the rest of the flower falls away, the formmg pod is prc^ 

 traded on a rigid deflexed stalk which then appears, and is pushed into the 

 soil where it ripens into the oblong, reticulated, thick, coriaceous fruit, which 

 contains the 1-3 large and edible seeds; the embryo composed of a pair 

 of very thick and fleshy cotyledons and an extremely short nearly straight 

 radicle. 

 ^-^^^Pod continuous, i. e. not in joints, at length opening, 2 - several-seeded. 



a. Leaves abruptly pinnate : plants not timning. (Flowers in ours yellow.) 



21. SESBANIA. Herbs, with many pairs of leaflets, and minute or early deciduoiM 



stipules. Flowers in axillarv racemes, or sometimes solitary, t^alyx short, 

 B-toothed. Standard rounded, spreading: keel and style incurved. Pod usu- 

 ally intercepted internally with cellular matter or membrane between the 



22. CARAG ANA. Shrubs, with mostly fascicled leaves of several pairs of leaflets, 



and a little spiny tip in place of an end leaflet: stipules minute or spiny. 

 Flowers solitary or 2 - 3 together on short peduncles. Calyx bell-shaped or 

 short-tubular, 5-toothed. Standard nearly erect with the sides turned back: 

 the blunt keel and the style nearly straight. Pod linear, several-seeded. 



b. Leaves odd-pinnate : stems not twining. 



1. Anthers tipped with a little gland or blunt point. 



23. INDIGOFERA. Herbs, or sometimes shrubby, when pubescent the close- 



pressed hairs are fixed bv the middle. Flowers rose-color, purple, or white, 

 in axillary racemes or spiltes, mostly small. Calyx 5-cleft. Standard round- 

 ish, often persistent after the rest of the petals have fallen: keel with a pro- 

 jection or spur on each side. Pod oblong, linear, or of various shapes, com- 

 monly with membranous partitions between the seeds. 



2. Anthers blunt and pointless. 



24. TEPHROSIA. Herbs, with obliquely parallel-veined leaflets often silky be- 



neath, and white or purple flowers (2 or more in a cluster) in racemes; the 

 peduncles terminal or opposite the leaves. Calyx 5-cleft or 5-toothed. Stand- 

 ard rounded, silky outside. Style incurved, rigid: stigma with a tuft of 

 hairs. Pod linear, flat, several-seeded. 



25. ROBINI A. Trees or shrubs, with netted-veined leaflets furnished with stipels, 



and often with sharp spines or prickles for stipules. Flowers large and 

 showy, white or rose-color, in axillary racemes. Base of the leafstalk hollow 

 and covering the axillary bud of the next year. Calyx 5-toothed, the two 

 upper teeth partly united. Standard large, turned back: keel incurved, 

 blunt. Ovary stalked in the calyx. Pod broadly linear, flat, several-seeded, 

 margined on the seed-bearing edge, the valves thin. 



26. COLUTEA. Shrubs, not prickly, andno stipels to the leaflets; the flowers 



rather large, yellow or reddish, in short axillary racemes. Calyx 5-toothed. 

 Standard rounded, spreading: keel strongly incurved, blunt, on long united 

 claws. Style incurved, bearded down one side. Pod raised out of the calyx 

 on a stalk of its own, thin and bladdery-inflated, flattisU on the seed-bearing 

 side, several-seeded. 



27. ASTRAGALUS. Herbs, without stipels, and with white, purple, or yellowish 



rather small flowers in spikes, heads, or racemes : peduncles axillary. Co- 

 rolla narrow: standard erect, mostly oblong. Style and stigma smooth and 

 beardless. Pod commonly turgid or inflated andwithin more or less divided 

 lengthwise by intrusion of the back or a false partition from it. 



(SwAiMsoNA, SuTHERLAKDiA, and Clianthus, plants from Australia, 

 New Zealand, and South Africa, with showy flowers and bladdery-inflated 

 pods (like Colutea), are sometimes cult, in conservatories, but ai'e not com- 

 mon enough to find a place here.) 



