84 



LEGUMINOSEAE (PULSE FAMILY) 



M. alba, Sweet Clover. Tall; leaflets serrate, truncate; petals 

 white, the standard longer than the other petals; pods somewhat 

 reticulate. Rich soils and along roadsides. 



MEDICAGO 



Herbs with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves, toothed leaflets, and 

 flowers as in Melilotus. Pod curved or coiled. 



M. lupulina, Black Medick. Procumbent and 

 pubescent ; leaflets wedge-obovate, toothed at apex ; 

 flowers yellow, in short spikes; pods kidney-formed. 

 Waste places. 



ROBINIA 



Trees or shrubs, often with spines replacing 

 stipules. Pinnate leaves and showy flowers in 

 drooping racemes. Diadelphous stamens and 

 linear flat pods. 



Medicago lupu- 

 lina, Black 

 medick. 



R. pseudacacia. Common Locust. A valuable timber tree; branches 

 smooth ; flowers white, fragrant, in slender loose racemes ; pods smooth. 

 Common in cultivation. May, June. 



VICIA 



Herbs mostly climbing by a tendril at the end of the pinnate 

 leaves. Half-sagittate stipules. ^^^^ 



Axillary flowers. Style hairy all ^- ^y/ 



round or only on the back at the ^ '*' nAiyV 

 apex. Pods flat. 



V. caroliniana, Vetch. Nearly 

 smooth; leaflets 8 to 24, oblong, ob- 

 tuse ; peduncles loosely-flowered ; 

 flowers small, whitish; keel topped 

 with blue. River banks. April to 

 June. 



V. americana, Vetch. Leaflets 

 glabrous, 10 to 14, elliptical, ovate- 

 oblong, very obtuse; peduncles 4 to 8 flowered; flowers purplish. 

 Moist soil.' May, June. 



Vicia americana. Vetch. 



