112 PULSE FAMILY. 



B. lauceol&ta. Downy when young, spreading, with 3 thickish blunt leaf- 

 lets varying from lanceolate to obovate, a very short common petiole, small de- 

 ciduous stipules, and rather large flowers solitary in the axils and in short ter- 

 minal racemes, the pod globular and slender-pointed. Common S. & S. W. 



B. villdsa. Minutely downy, with stout stems 2° hi^h, 3 spatulate-oWong 

 or wedge-obovate leaflets, becoming smooth above, a very short common petiole, 

 stipules niore or less persistent, and many-flowered racemes of large flowers 

 on slender pedicels ; the pod minutely downy, oblong, taper-pointed. J?rom 

 Carolina S. W. 



* « Flowers white, in the first cream-color : leaves all of 3 leaflets varying from 

 wedge-obovate to oblanceolate, and flowers in long racemes termmcUing the 

 branches. 



B. leucophsea. Low and spreading, 1° high, soft-hairy, with persistent 

 large and leaf-like bracts and stipul»s, reclined one-sided racemes of cream- 

 colored large (1' long) flowers on slender pedicels, and hoary ovate pods. Open 

 woods, chiefly W. 



B. 41ba. Smooth, 2° - 3° high, with slender widely spreading branches, 

 slender petioles, minute deciduous stipules and bracts, loose erect or spreading 

 long-peduncled racemes of small flowers (J' - J' long), and cylindrical pods. 

 Prom Virginia S. 



B. leucantha. Smooth and glaucous, stout, 3° - 5° high, with spreading 

 branches, rather short petioles, the lanceolate stipules and bracts deciduous, 

 erect long racemes of large (1' long) flowers, and oval-oblong pods 2' long, 

 raised on a stalk fully twice the length of the calyx. Alluvial soil, from Ohio 

 W. & S. 



* * * Flowers blue : leaves of 3 leaflets as in the foregoing. 



B. austr^lis. Smooth and stout, pale, erect, 2° - 5° high, with oblong- 

 wedge-shaped leaflets, lanceolate and rather persistent stipules as long as the 

 short petiole, erect racemes of pretty large (nearly 1' long) flowers on short 

 pedicels, and oval-oblong pods 2' -3' long, on a stalk of the length of the 

 calyx. 



47. THERMOPSIS. (From Greek' words meaning that the plants resem- 

 ble the Lupine.) Flowers yellow. ^ 



T. mdllis. Wild in open woods fromN. Carolina S. : downy, l°-2° high, 

 with spreading branches, 3 obovate-oblong leaflets, oblong-ovate leafy stipules, 

 some of them as long as the short petioles, and long narrow-linear spreading 



Eods short-stalked in the calyx : fl. spring. (There are two other species in the 

 outhern Alleghanies.) „ 



T. fab^cea, which is erect with oval leaflets and upright pods, is sparingly 

 cult, from Siberia, and wild in N. W. America. 



48. CLADRASTIS, YELLOW-WOOD. (Meaning of name obscure, 

 perhaps from Greek for brittle branches. ) 



C. tinct6ria (also named VinefLiA ittTEA), native of rich woods from 

 E. Kentucky S., planted for ornament, one of the very handsomest and neatest 

 of ornamental trees ; with light yellow wood, a close bark like that of Beech, 

 leaves of 7-11 parallel-veined oval or ovate leaflets (3'-4' long and smooth, as 

 is the whole plant), and ample hanging panicles (1° or more long) of pretty, 

 delicately fragrant, cream-white flowei-s, terminating the branchlets of the season, 

 in May or June. 



49. SOFHORA. (An Arabic name altered.) There is a wild herbaceous 

 species beyond the Mississippi, a low shrubby one on the coast of Florida, 

 and a tree in Arkansas and Texas which in its fleshy jointed pod and in ap- 

 pearance much resembles the following ; — 



S. Jap6nica, Japan S. Planted for ornament, hardy to New England ; 

 tree 20° -50° high, with greenish bark, 11-13 oval or oblong acute smooth 

 leaflets, and loose panicles of cream-white flowers, terminating the branches at 

 the end of sujijnjer, the fruit ^ gti'ing of fleshy J -seeded joints. 



