132 LEGUMINOS^. (pulse FAMILY.) 



straggling ; leaflets 5-15, oblong, varying to obovate-wedge-shaped and oblanoe- 

 olate; peduncles longer than the leaves, 2 - i-Jlowered ; flowers reddish-purple. — 

 Dry sandy soil, Virginia and southward. 



14. ASTKAGALUS, L. Milk-Vetch. 



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

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

 mens diadelphous. Stigma minute, terminal. Pod several - many-seeded, various, 

 mostly turgid, one or both sutures usually projecting into the cell, either slightly 

 or so as to divide the cavity lengthwise into two. Seed-stalks slender. Chiefly 

 herbs (ours perennials), with odd-pinnate leaves and spiked or racemed flowers. 

 (The ancient Greek name of a leguminous plant, as also of the ankle-bone; but, 

 the connection between the two is past all guess, ) 

 § 1 . Pod very thick and juicy when fresh, not stalked in the calyr, 2-celled, indehiscent, 



or tardily separable into 2 closed portions : stems low, decumbent or ascending : 



lea/lets numerous. 



1. A. earyoc^rpus, Ker. (Ground Plum.) Pale and minutely ap- 

 pressed-pubescent ; leaflets narrowly oblong ; flowers in a short spike-like 

 raceme : corolla violet-purple ; fruit glabrous, ovate-globular, more or less pointed, 

 about I' in diameter, very thick-walled, cellular or corky when dry. Upper Mis- 

 sissippi Eiver, thence westward and southward. May. 



2. A. Mexic^nus, A. DC. Smoother, or pubescent with looser hairs, 

 larger; leaflets roundish, obovate, or oblong; flowers larger (10"- 12" long); 

 calyx softly hairy ; corolla cream-color, bluish only at the tip ; fruit globular, very ob- 

 tuse and pointless, 1' or more in diameter: otherwise like the last: the unripe 

 fruits of both resemble green plums, — whence the popular name, — and are 

 eaten, raw or cooked, by travellers. (A. trichocalyx, Nutt.) — Prairies and open 

 plains, from Illinois opposite St. Louis westward and southward. 



3. A. Platt6nsls, Nutt. Loosely villous ; stipules conspicuous ; leaflets 

 oblong, often glabrous above ; flowers crowded in a short spike or oblong head, 

 cream-color often tinged or tipped with purple ; fruit ovate, pointed, and with the 

 calyx villous, — in var. Tennesseensis (A. Tennesseensis, Gray, in Cliaym. S. 

 Fl. ) oblong and slightly curved, much less fleshy and thick than in the preceding. 

 — Gravelly or sandy banks of Illinois River ( Vasey, Slosson, Bebb), thence south- 

 ward and westward. May. 



§ 2. Pod dry and dehiscent, more or less thin-tvalled, turgid, not stalked in the calyx, 

 completely 2-celled only in No. 4. 



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

 cent; leaflets 21 -27, oblong; flowers greenish cream-color, very numerous, in long 

 and close spikes ; pods ovoid-oblong, coriaceous, small, completely 2-ceUed. — Eiver- 

 banks : common from N. New York westward and southward. July - Aug. 



5. A. Codperi, Gray. Nearly smooth, erect (l°-2° high); leaflets 11- 

 21, elliptical or oblong, somewhat notched at the end, minutely hoary under- 

 neath ; flowers white, rather numerous in a short spike ; pods inflated-ovoid (al- 

 most 1' long), thin-walled, one-celled, the dorsal suture slightly, the ventral more 

 decidedly projecting inwards. (Phaca neglecta, Torr. ^ Gray. Now named for 



