LEGUMINOSiE. (PULSE PAMILT.) 97 



1. T. Tirgini;'kna, Pers. (Goat's Roe. Catgut.) Silky-viUous -with 

 whitish hairs when young; stem erect and simple {l°-2° high), leafy to the top; 

 leaflets 17-29, linear-oblong; flowers large and numerous, clustered in a termi- 

 nal d>long dense raceme or panicle, yellowish-whito marked with purple. — Dry 

 sandy soil. June, July. — Boots long and slender, very tough. Flower almost 

 as large as a pea-blossom. 



2. T. spiciita, Torr. & Gray. Villous with rmty hairs ; stems branched 

 below, straggling or ascending (2° long), few-leaved; leaflets 9 - 15, obovate or 

 oblong-wedge-shaped, often nbtched at the end ; Jlouiers few, in a loose inter- 

 rupted spike raised on a veri/ long peduncle, reddish. — Dry soil, E. Viiginia and 

 southward. July. 



3. X. hispidiila, Pursh. Hau-y with some long and rusty or only 

 minute and appressed pubescence; stems slender (9' -24' long), divergently 

 branched, sti'aggUng; leaflets 5-15, oblong, varying to obovate-wedge-shaped 

 and oblanceolate ; peduncles longer tJian the leaves, 2 -iflowaed ; flowers reddisli- 

 purple. — Dry sandy soil, Virginia and southward. 



14. ASTRAGALUS, L. Milk- Vetch. 



Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla usually long and narrow : standard small, equal- 

 ling or exceeding the wings and blunt keel, its sides reflexed or spreading. 

 Stamens diadelplious. Pod several - many-seeded, various, mostly tm'gid, one 

 or both sutures usually projecting into the cell, either slightly or to such a de- 

 gree as to divide the cavity lengthwise into two. Seed-stalks slender. — Chiefly 

 herbs, w^ith odd-pinnate loaves and spiked or racemed flowers. (The ancient 

 Greek name of a leguminous plant, as also of the anldo-bonc ; but the connec- 

 tion between the two is past all guess.) 



§ 1 . Pod very thicic and juicy when fresh, globular, resemUing a plum, 2-ceUed, inde- 

 hiscent, or tardily separable through the partition into 2 closed portions. 



1. A. cai'yocdi'pilS, Ker. (Ground Plum.) Pale and minutely 

 approsscd-ijuboscent ; stems low, decumbent; leaflets numerous, naiTowly ob- 

 long ; flowers in a short spike-like raceme ; corolla violet-purple ; fruit glabrous, 

 ovate-glohular, more or less pointed, about §' in diameter. H. — Dry soil, on the 

 Mississippi Eiver, at the junction of the St. Peter's, and westward and south- 

 ward. May. 



2. A. mexicnnus, A. DC. Smoother, or pubescent with looser haira, 

 lai-ger ; stems usually ascending ; leaflets roundish, obovate, or oblong ; flowers 

 larger (10"- 12" long) ; calyx softly hairy ; corolla cream-color, bluish only at the 

 tip ; fruit globular, veiy obtuse and pointless, 1 ' or more in diameter : otiierwise 

 like the last : — the unripe fruits of both are edible, and are eaten, raw or cooked, 

 by travellers. (A. trichocalyx, Nutt.) — Prairies and open plains, from Illinois 

 opposite St. Louis westward and southward. 



4 2. Pod dry and deliiscent, partly or completely 2-celled by the turning inward of the 



dorsal suture. 



3. A. Canadensis, L. Tall and erect (1°- 4° high), somewhat pubes- 

 cent; leaflets 21-27, oblong; flowers greenish cream-color, very numei-ous, in 



9 



