PULSE FAMILY. Ill 



» • Peduncle bearing very many small soon reflexed flowers. 



V, Carolini&na. Smoothish ; with 8-24 oblong blunt leaflets, and small 

 white or purplish-tipped flowers rather loose or scattered in the slender raceme. 



V. Craeca. Only N.,& W., rather downy; with 20-24 lance-oblong 

 mucronate-pointed leaflets, and a dense spike of blue flowers (nearly ^' long) 

 turning purple. 



§ 2. Flowers \ — f> cm a slender peduncle, in summer or spring, very small : leaf- 

 lets oblong-linear, 4-8 pairs : pod oblong, only 2 - 4-seeded: slender and 

 delicate European plants, run wild infields and waste places. ® 



V. tetrasp^rma. Leaflets blunt ; corolla whitish ; pod 4-seeded, smooth. 



v. hirs'tlta. Leaflets truncate ; corolla bluish ; pod 2-seeded, hairy. 



§ 3. Flowers single or few and sessile or short-peduncled in the axil of the leaves, 

 pretty large ; pod several-seeded : stem simple, low, not climbing, (i) 



V. sativa. Common Vetch or Tare. Sometimes cult, for fodder, from 

 the Old World, run wild in some fields : somewhat hairy, with 10- 14 leaflets 

 varying from oblong or obovate to linear, and notched and mucronate at the 

 apex ; flowers mostly in pairs and sessile, violet-purple ; seeds tumid. 



V. F^ba, Bean of England, Windsor or Horse-Bean. Cult, from the 

 Old World for the edible beans (which are not much fancied in this country, 

 where we have better) : smooth, with stout erect stem l°-2'' high, crowded 

 leaves of 2 - 6 oblong leaflets ( 1 J' - 3' long), a mere rudiment of a tendril, and 

 axillary clusters of white flowers having a black spot on each wing ; pod thick 

 and fleshy, 2' - 3' long ; seeds oval, flattened, large. 



43. LENS, LENTIL. (Classical Latin name. The shape of the seed gave 

 the name to the glass lens for magnifying.) ® 



L. escul^uta. Common Lentil, of Europe, cult, for fodder and for the 

 seeds, but rarely with us : slender plant, barely 1° high, resembling n Vetch, 

 with several pairs of oblong leaflets (^ long), 2 or 3 small white or purplish 

 flowers on a slender peduncle, and a small broad pod, containing 2 orbicular 

 sharp-edged (lens-shaped) seeds, which are generally yellowish or brownish, 

 a sorry substitute for beans, but good for soup. 



44. CiCEE, CHICK-PEA. (An old Latin name for the Vetch.) ® 



C. arietinum, Common C, of thb Old World, called Coffee-Pea at the 

 West, there cult, for its seeds, which are used for coffee : their shape gave the 

 specific name, being likened to the head of a sheep : plant 9' - 20' high, covered 

 with soft glandular acid hairs ; leaves of 8 - 12 wedge-obovate serrate leaflets ; 

 peduncle bearing one small whitish flower, succeeded by the turgid small pod. 



45. CHOBIZBMA. (A fanciful name of Greek derivation.) IJ. 



C. ilieifblia, Holly-leaved C. Greenhouse-plant from Australia, bushy, 

 with lance-oblong leaves cut into strong spiny teeth or lobes, and racemes of 

 small copper-colored flowers, the wings redder. 



46 BAPTISIA, FALSE INDIGO. (Prom Greek word meaning to dye, 

 these plants yielding a poor sort of indigo. ) Poliage of most species turning 

 blackish in drying : nearly all grow in sandy or gravelly dry soil : fl. spring 

 and early summer. 2/ 



# Flowers yellow. 

 B perfoli^ta. Low and spreading, smooth and glaucous, with simple 

 round-ovate leaves surrounding the stem (perfoliate, probably answenng to 

 united stipules), and single small.flowers in their axils ; pod small and globular. 

 Carolina and Georgia. „ -.- t, , 



B tinctdria, Common or Wild Palse-Indigo. Pale or glaucous, 

 smooth bushy, 2° high, with 3 small wedge-obovate leaflets, hardly any com- 

 mon petiole, minute deciduous stipules, few-flowered racemes terminating the 

 branches, and small globular pods. 



