LEGUMINOSAE (PEA FAMILY) 277 



tent: pubescence of the calyx more or less villous, spreading: pods 8-seeded. 

 — Western Wyoming to Nevada and Washington. 



4. LOTUS L. Trefoil 



Herbaceous. Leaves (in ours) 1-5-foliolate; stipules minute and gland-like. 

 Flowers in axillary umbels, or solitary. Calyx-teeth nearly equal, usually 

 shorter than the tube. Petals free from the stamens, nearly equal, yellow or 

 ochroleucous, or turning reddish; claw of the standard usually remote from the 

 others; keel somewhat incurved. Stamens diadelphous. Pod Unear, sessile, 

 partitioned between the seeds. 



Annual 1. L, americanus. 



Perennial 2, L. Wrightii. 



1. Lotus americanus (Nutt.) Bisch. Litt. Ber. Linnaea 14: 132. 1840. 

 Annual; more or less silky-villous or sometimes glabrous: leaves nearly ses- 

 sile; leaflets 3 (or 1, rarely 4), varying from ovate to lanceolate: peduncles 

 exceeding the leaves, one-flowered: calyx-teeth linear, much longer than the 

 tube, about equaling the corolla: keel attenuated upward, falcate, mostly 

 acute. Hosackia Purshiana. — Across the continent; infrequent in our range. 



2. Lotus Wrightii (Gray) Greene, Pitt. 2: 143. 1890. Perennial; ashy- 

 puberulent, bushy-branched, very leafy: leaflets 3-5, apparently palmate and 

 sessile, the lowest oblong, the rest filiform-linear: peduncles short, rarely 

 equaling the leaf, 1-2-flowered: calyx-teeth setaceous-subulate, about equal- 

 ing the tube: keel not falcately-attenuate, mostly very obtuse.— S. W. Col- 

 orado, New Mexico, and Arizona. 



6. MELILOTUS Tourn. Melilot. Sweet Clover 



Annual or biennial herbs, with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves, usually serru- 

 late leaflets, small yellow or white flowers in slender axillary pedunculate 

 racemes, and an ovoid coriaceous wrinkled pod which is 1 or 2-seeded and 

 scarcely dehiscent. 



1. Melilotus alba Desv. in Lam. Enoycl. 4: 63. 1797. Erect, 1-2 m. high, 

 branching: leaflets oblong, truncate, emarginate, or rounded at apex, 1-2 cm. 

 long: flowers white in slender racemes 5-10 cm. long, often 1-sided: pod 

 ovoid, glabrous. White Sweet Clover. — Naturalized from Europe; spar- 

 ingly grown for forage, and spreading as a weed. 



2. Melilotus oflicinalis (L.) Lam. FL Fr. 2: 594. 1778. Resembling the 

 preceding: leaves with rounded serrate apex: flowers yellow: pod subpubeScent, 

 reticulate-veined. Yellow SweetCloveh. — Adventive from Europe; in waste 

 grounds. 



6. MEDIC AGO L. Alfalfa. Lucerne. Medic 



Annual or perennial herbs, with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves, toothed leaf- 

 tets, small flowers in spike-like racemes, and curved or coiled 1-few-seeded pods. 



1. Medicago sativa L. Sp. PI. 778. 1753. Upright and smooth perennial: 

 leaflets obovate-oblong: flowers purple, racemed: pod spirally twisted. — ^An 

 extensively cultivated forage plant, peculiarly adapted to our range, and of 

 the highest value because of it^ quality and productiveness. 



7. TRIFOLIUM L. Clover 



Herbs, often tufted or diffuse, with pahnately 3-foliolate leaves, or rarely 

 pinnately 3-5-foliolate. Stipules adnate to the petiole. Flowers usually capi- 

 tate, the heads sometimes elongated and spike-like. Calyx persistent, with 

 slender bristle-form teeth. Corolla persistent, imited with the stamens. 

 Pods small, membranous, indehiscent, often included in the calyx. 



