PEA FAMILY 



LEAD PLANT. DOWNY AMORPHA 



Amorpha cantscens. 



A spreading bush one to four feet high ; leaves and shoots 

 and flower spikes densely covered with soft, white hairs. Is a 

 plant of the prairies ; ranges from Indiana to Minnesota and 

 Manitoba, southward to Louisiana and Texas. 



Leaves. — Alternate, odd-pinnate, almost sessile, abundant, 

 crowded, two to four inches long ; leaflets fifteen to forty-nine, 

 small, crowded, almost sessile, oval or lanceolate, rounded at 

 base, entire, obtuse or acute, and mucronate at apex. 



Flowers. — July, August. Perfect, bright blue, borne in 

 densely clustered, terminal spikes, two to seven inches long. 

 Flower is conspicuous because of the bright blue of the corolla 

 and the brilliant orange of the anthers. 



Calyx. — Bell-shaped, hairy, five-toothed ; teeth lanceolate. 



Corolla. — Deformed, papilionaceous, consisting only of the 

 standard which is bright blue, nearly orbicular or obcordate, 

 and wrapped about the stamens and style. Wings and keel 

 wanting. 



Stamens. — Ten, monadelphous at the very base, otherwise 

 distinct. 



Pistil. — Ovary superior, sessile, two-celled ; style curved. 

 Fruit. — Pod, small, oblong, partly enclosed in the persistent 

 calyx, hairy, one-seeded. 



Everything about this shrub seems crowded. The 

 small leaflets fairly push each other to find standing 

 room ; the flowers crush each other upon the central 

 axis of the spike ; and the spikes themselves are 

 crowded upon the end of the branches. 



Curiously enough there has developed concerning 

 this plant of the western prairies a modern reappear- 

 ance of the ancient doctrine of signatures. In many 

 places it is very generally believed that the presence 



