376 



FABACEAE. 



Vol. II. 



24. SESBAN Adans. Fam. PI. 2 : 327. 1763. 



[Sesbania Scop. Introd. 308. 1777.] 



Herbs or shrubs, with evenly pinnate leaves, the leaflets numerous, entire, not stipellate, 

 or the stipels minute. Flowers yellow, reddish, purplish or white, in axillary or lateral 

 racemes, the slender pedicels with 2 deciduous bractlets under the calyx. Calyx campanulate, 

 nearly equally 5-toothed. Standard broad, ovate or orbicular; wings oblong, falcate; keel 

 blunt. Stamens diadelphous (9 and i). Ovary mostly stipitate, many-ovuled ; style glabrous; 

 stigma small. Pod elongated-linear, wingless, compressed, partitioned between the oblong 

 seeds. [Name Arabic] 



.\bout 15 species, natives of warm and tropical regions, only the following one known in North 

 America. Type species : Aeschynomene Sesban L. 



I. Sesban macrocarpa Muhl. Pea-tree. Long- 

 podded Sesban. Fig. 2529. 



Sesbania macrocarpa Muhl. ; Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 2 : 

 221. 1821. 



Annual, glabrous, widely branching, 4°-i2° tall. 

 Leaflets 10-35 pairs, oblong, obtuse, mucronate, thin, 

 i' long or less, 2"-^" wide, pale beneath ; racemes 

 shorter than the leaves, 1-5-flowered ; calyx-teeth 

 subulate, shorter than the tube; corolla yellowish, 

 purple-spotted, the standard 8"-io" long; pod 6'-i2' 

 long, about 2" wide, somewhat curved, drooping, 

 tipped with the subulate style. 



In wet or moist soil, Missouri to Texas. Arizona, east 

 to South Carolina and Florida, south to Central Amer- 

 ica. Collected also in southern Pennsylvania and in 

 ballast deposits on Staten Island, New York. June- 

 Sept. 



Colutea arborescens L., a European shrub, with odd- 

 pinnate leaves, yellow flowers in short racemes, and 

 much inflated membranous pods, is reported as escaped 

 from cultivation in eastern Massachusetts. 



25. GEOPRUMNON Rydb. in Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 615, 1332. 1903. 



Perennial herbs with tufted decumbent or ascending leafy stems, odd-pinnate leaves with 

 numerous entire leaflets, the stipules distinct and nearly free from the petiole, and rather 

 large white, yellowish, violet or purplish flowers in peduncled axillary racemes. Calyx cam- 

 panulate or nearly cylindric, its teeth nearly equal. Standard rather narrow, erect, notched, 

 longer than the wings;' keel shorter than the wings; stamens diadelphous, the anthers all 

 alike. Ovary sessile; ovules numerous. Pod globose to conic-fusiform, fleshy, becoming 

 spongy, indehiscent, completely 2-celled. [Greek, earth-plum.] 



Five species, natives of Central North America. 

 (Nutt.) Rydb. 



Pod glabrous, globose, or oval. 



Corolla purple ; pod pointed. • i. G. crassicarpum. 



Corolla yellowish-white : pod obtuse. 2. G. mcxicaniim. 

 Pod pubescent, ovoid or oblong. 



Pod ovoid, about 6" long, not wrinkled. 3. G. plattcnse. 



Pod oblong, curved, i' long or more, wrinkled. 4. G. tennesseense. 



Type species: Geoprumnon crassicarpum 



