LEGUMINOS^. (pulse FAMILY.) 143 



Pod stalked in the persistent calyx, roundish or oblong, inflated, pointed, many- 

 seeded. — Perennial herbs, with palmately 3-foHolate (rarely simple) leaves, 

 which generally blacken in drying, and racemed flowers. (Named from ^an-Wfo), 

 to dye, from the economical use of some species, which yield a poor indigo.) 



1. B. tinct6ria, R.Br. (Wild Indigo.) Smooth and slender (2° -3° 

 high), rather glaucous; leaves almost sessile ; leaflets rounded, wedge-obovate 

 (I' long) ; stipules and bracts minute and deciduous ; racemes fevj-Jiowered, terminat- 

 ing the bushy branches; pods oval-globose, on a stalk longer than the calyx. — 

 Sandy dry soil : common. June - Aug. — Corolla yellow, J' long. 



2. B. austrilis, R. Br. (BLUBrALSE-lNDioo.) Smooth, tall and stout 

 (4° -5°); leaflets oblong-wodge-form, obtuse; stipules lanceolate, as long as the 

 petioles, rather persistent ; raceme elongated (l°-2°) and many-Jiowered, erect; bracts 

 deciduous ; stalk of the oval-oblong pods about the length of the calyx. — Alluvial soil, 

 from Pennsylvania westward and southward : often cultivated. June. — Flow- 

 ers 1 ' long, indigo-blue. Pods 2' - 3' long. 



3. B. leucd/ntha, Torr. & Gr. Smooth ; stems, leaves, and racemes as in 

 the foregoing ; stipules early deciduous ; pods oval-oblong, raised on a stalk fully twice 

 the length of the calyx. — Alluvial soil, Ohio to Wisconsin and southwestward. 

 July. — Flowers white ; the standard short. Pods 2' long. 



4. B. Mba., B. Br. Smooth (l°-3° high) ; the branches slender and middy 

 spreading; petioles slender ; stipules and brads mmttfe and deciduous; leaflets ob- 

 long or oblanceolate ; racemes slender on a long naked peduncle ; pods linear- 

 oblong (I'-lJ' long), short-stalked. — Dry soil, Virginia and southward. May, 

 June. — Flowers white, 6"- 9" long. 



5. B. leucophasa, Nutt. Hairy, low (1° high), with divergent branches; 

 leaves almost sessile ; leaflets narrowly oblong-obovate or spatulate ; stipules and 

 bracts large and leafy, persistent; racemes long, reclined; flowers on elongated pedi- 

 cels; pods ovoid, hoary. — Michigan to Wisconsin and southward. April, May. 

 — Raceme often 1°, pedicels l'-2', the cream-colored corolla 1', in length. 



32. CLADEASTIS, Raf. Yellow-Wood. 



Calyx 5-toothed. Standard large, roundish, reflexed : the distinct keel-petals 

 and wings straight, oblong. Stamens 10, distinct: filaments slender, incurved 

 above. Pod short-stalked above the calyx, linear, flat, thin, marginless, 4-6- 

 seeded, at length 2-valved. — A small and handsome tree, with yellow wood, 

 smooth bark, nearly smooth pinnate leaves of 7 - 11 oval or ovate leaflets, and 

 ample panicled racemes (10"-20" long) of showy white flowers drooping from 

 the end of the branches. Stipules obsolete. Base of the petioles hollow, and 

 enclosing the leaf-buds of the next year. Bracts minute and fugacious. (Name 

 of obscure derivation.) 



1. C. tinctbria, Raf. (Virgflia lutea, Mc^./) Rich hillsides, E. Ken- 

 tucky and southward along the western base of the Alleghanies. May, June. 



33. C!^RCIS, L. Red-bdd. Judas-tkee. 



Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla imperfectly papilionaceous : standard smaller than 

 the wings, and enclosed by them in the bud : the keel-petals larger and not 



