102 LEGUMiNOs^. (pulse family.) 



crowded leaves, and narrowly oblong or linear leaflets, which are often silky. — 

 Dry copses, common. Aug. - Sept. — Pods ripening from both sorts of flowers. 



4. Id. Stjlvei, Nutt. Stems upright-spreading, bushy, downy ; leaflets oval 

 or roundish, longer than the petiole, silky or white-woolly beneath (and some- 

 times above); clusters Tmmy-flowered, crowded ; pods ovate, downy. — Dry hills, 

 and sand, Plymouth, Mass. to Virginia, Michigan, and southward. — Appear- 

 ing intermediate between No. 3 and No. 5. 



# * Flowers all alike and perfect, in dose spikes or heads : corolla whitish or cream- 

 color with a purple spot on the standard, about the length of the downy calyx: stems 

 upright, wand-like (2° -4° high). 



5. Li. hirta, Ell. Peduncles longer than the leaves ; petioles slender ; leaflets 

 roundish or oval, hairy ; spikes cylindrical, rather loose ; pods nearly as long as 

 the calyx. (L. polystachia, Michx.) — Dry hill-sides. Aug., Sept. 



6. li. capitata, Michx. Peduncles and petides short; leaflets elliptical 

 or oblong, thickish, reticulated and mostly smooth above, silky beneath ; spikes 

 or heads short ; pods much shorter than the calyx. — Varies greatly, most of 

 all in var. angustif6lia : slender; leaflets linear ; peduncles sometimes elon- 

 gated. — Dry and sandy soil ; the narrow variety only found near the coast and 

 southwai'd. Sept. — Stems woolly, rigid. 



19. SXYliOSANTHES, Swartz. Pencil-Floweh. 



Flowers of two kinds intermixed in the clusters ; one sort complete but un- 

 fruitful ; the other fertile, and consisting only of a pistil between 2 bractlets. — 

 Calyx with a slender tube like a stalk, 2-lipped at the summit ; upper lip 2-, the 

 lower 3-cleft. Stamens monadelphous : 5 of the anthers linear, the 5 alternate 

 ones ovate. Fertile flowers with a hooked style. Pod reticulated, 1 - 2-jointed ; 

 the lower joint when present empty and stalk-like, the upper ovate. — Low 

 perennials, branched from the base, with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves ; the stipules 

 united with the petiole. (Name composed of otuXos, o column, and av6os, a, 

 flower, fi'om the stalk-like calyx-tube.) 



1. S. elatior, Swartz. Tufted, low, often bristly, wiry ; leaflets lanceo- 

 late, strongly straight-veined ; heads or clusters small and few-flowered, — Pine 

 barrens. Long Island to Virginia and southward. July - Oct. — Flowers small, 

 yellow. 



20. VIC I A, Tom-n. Vetch. Take. 



Calyx 5-cleft or 5-toothed, the 2 upper teeth often shorter. Style thread- 

 shaped, hairy all round the apex or down the outer side (next the keel). Pod 

 2-valved, 2 - several-seeded. Stamens diadelphous, 9 & 1. Seeds globular. 

 Cotyledons very thick, remaining under ground in germination. — Climbing 

 shrubs. Leaves abruptly pinnate, the petiole terminating in a tendril. Stiptiles 

 usually half arrow-shaped. (The old Latin name.) 



* Armual : flowers 1-2 in the axils, nearly sessile, large, viplet-purple. 



1. V. sATivA, L. (Common Vetch or Take.) Somewhat pubescent; 

 stem simple ; leaflets 5 -7 pahs, varying from obovate-oblong to linear, notched 



