104 PULSE FAMILT. 



16. LESPEDEZA, BUSH-CLOVER. CNamed for Lespedez, a Spanislr 

 Govei-nor of Florida.) All grow in sandy or sterile soil; fl. late summer 

 and autumn. ^ 



» Native species : stipules and bracts minute. 

 H- Flowers in close spikes or heads on upricjht (2° -4° hiffh) simple rigid stems: 

 corolla cream-color or white with a purple spot, about the length of the silky- 

 dowmj cali/x. 

 Ii. capitata. Leaflets oblong or sometimes linear, silky beneath, thickish ; 

 peduncles and petioles short ; flowers in short spikes or heads ; calyx much 

 longer than the pod. 



Ii. hirta. Leaflets roundish or oval, hajry or downy ; petioles and pedun- 

 clos slender ; spikes becoming rather long and loose. 



4_ ^_ Flowers violet-purple, scattered or in open panicles or clusters, slender-pedunr 

 cled, also usually some more fertile ones, mostli/ without petals, in small 

 sessile clusters. 

 L. viol&oea. The commonest, and very variable, bushy-branching, erect 

 or spreading, with leaflets varying from ova'l to linear, and minutely whitish- 

 downy beneath, or sometimes silky ; the ordinary flowers loosely panicled. 



L. prociimbens. Soft-downy, except the upper surface of the oval or 

 oblong leaflets, slender and trailing ; peduncles slender and few-flowered. 



L. rfepens. Smooth, except some minute and scattered close-pressed hairs, 

 very slender, prostrate ; leaflets obovate or oval {^' long). 



* * Naturalized in States, from China or Japan : stipides ovate or lance-ovate, 



striate, longer tlmn the very short petiole. 

 Ii. striata. Introduced (more than 25 yearsago) in some unknown way 

 into the -Southern ^Atlantic States, now rapidly spreading and occupying old 

 fields and waste places, to the great benefit of the country, being greedily fed 

 upon by cattle ; it is low and spreading, 3' - 10' high, much branched, almost 

 smooth, with oblong or wedgc-oblong leaflets 4' - i' long, and 1-3 small pur- 

 plish flowers almost sessile in the axils. 



17. DESMODIUM, TICK-TREFOIL. (Name from Greek, means teund 

 together, from the connected joints of the pod.) 1). We have many native 

 species, common in open woods and copses ; fl. late summer : the following 

 are, the more common. 



§ 1. Native species : the little joints of the pod adhere to clothing or to the coats of 

 animals : fiowers sometimes turning greenish in withering. 



* Pod raised far above the calyx on a slender stalk of its own, straightish on the 



upper margin, divided from below into not more than 4 joints : flowers in 

 one long-stalked nalced terminal raceme or panicle : plants smooth, l°-3° 

 high : stipules bristle-form. 



D. nudifldrum. Flower-stalk and leaf-bearing stem rising separately 

 from a common root ; the leaves all crowded on the summit of the latter, and 

 with broadly ovate bluntish leaflets, pale beneath. 



D. acumin&,tuin. Flowor-stalk terminating the stem, which beara a 

 cluster of leaves ; the large leaflets (4' - 5' long) i-ound-ovate with a tapering 

 point, or the end one blunter, green both sidgs. 



* * Pod little if at all raised above the calyx. 

 •*- Ste7ns erect, 3° - 6° high : stipules large, ovate or lance-ovate and pointed, 

 striate, persistent, the bracts similar but deciduous : ^flowers large for the 

 genus : racemes panicled : pods of 4-7 rhombic-oBhng joints, each joint 

 about J' long. 



H. cuapid&.tum. Very smooth, with a straight stem, lance-ovate and 

 taper-pointed leaflets (3' - 5' long) longer than the common petiole, and pod 

 with smoothish joints. 



D. ean^scens. Hairy, with branching stems, pale le.ivcs ; the ovate 

 bluntish leaflets about the length of the common petiole, reticulated beneath and 

 beth sides roughish with fine cloao pubescence ; joints of |)od very adhesive. 



