LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY^ 



519 



88. DESffldDIUM Desv. Tick Trefoil 



Calyx usually 2-llpped. Standard obovate ; wings adherent to the straight 

 or straightish and usually truncate keel, by means of a little transverse append- 

 age on each side of the latter. Stamens diadelphous, 9 and 1 , or monadelphous 

 below. Pod flat, deeply lobed on the lower margii,, separating into flat reticu- 

 lated joints (mostly roughened with minute hooked hairs). — Perennial herbs 

 with pinnately 3-foliolate (rarely 1-foliolate) leaves, stipellate. Flowers in axil- 

 lary or terminal racemes, often panicled, and 2 or 3 from each bract, purple nl 

 purplish, often turning green in withering. Stipules and bracts scale-like, often 

 striate. (Name from SeanU, a bond or chain, from the connected joints of the 

 pods.) Meibomia Adans. 



N.B. — In this genus the figures of the loments are on a scale of \\. 



§ 1. Fod raised nn a stalk (stipe) many times longer than the slightly toothed 

 calyx andnearlij aslong asthepedicel, straightish on the upper margin, deeply 

 sinuate on the lower; the 1-4 joints mostly 

 half-obovate 'and concave on the back ; sta- 

 mins monadelphous below; plants nearly 

 glabrous; stems erect or ascending; raceme 

 terminal, panicled ; stipules bristle-form. 



1. D. nudiflftrum (L.) DC. Leaves all crowded 

 at the summit of sterile stems ; leaflets broadly 

 ovate, bluntish, whitish beneath ; raceme elon- 

 gated on an ascending mostly leafless stalk or scape 

 6-10 dm. high. {Meibomia Ktze.) — Dry woods, 



»oit T. J... s. Me. to w. Que., Ont., Minn, and south w. Fig. 



Too. Jj. nnaiiiomni. tqp, -v , , 



2. D. grandifl&nim (Walt.) DC. Leaves all crowded at the summit of the 

 stem from which arises the elongated naked raceme or panicle; leaflets round- 

 ovate, taper-pointed, green both sides, the 

 end one round (l-l.."i dm. long). (Z). acu- 

 minatum DC. ; Meibomia grandiflora Ktze.) 

 — Rich woods, ceutr. Me. to Ont., S. Dak., 

 and south w. Fig. 786. 



3. D. pauciflbrum (Nutt.) DC. Leaves 

 scattered along the low (2-4 dm. high) 



ascending stems ; leaflets rhombic-ovate, ^gj ^ grandiflorum 



bluntish, pale beneath ; racpme/ero-^owered, 



terminal. {Meibomia Ktze.) — Woods, Ont. to Pa., Mich., Kan., and southw. 



§ 2. Pod raised on a stalk {stipe) little if at all surpassing the deeply cleft calyx; 

 stems long and prostrate or decumbent ; racemes axillary and terminal. 



* Stipules conspicuous, ovate, attenuate, striate, persistent ; racemes mostly simple. 



4. D. rotundifdlium (Michx.) DC. Soft-hairy cell over, truly prostrate ; leaf- 

 lets orbicular, or the odd one slightly rhomboid ; flowers purple ; pods almost 



equally sinuate on both edges, S-S-jointed ; 

 the joints rhomboid-oval. {Meibi'tnia Mich- 

 auxii Vail.) — Dry woods, e. Mass. to Fla., 

 w. to Minn., Mo., and La. — A form with 

 ovate leaflets occurs in Va. (Curtiss). 



5. D. ochroleucum M. A. Curtis. Stems 

 sparsely hairy, decumbent ; leaflets nearly 

 glabrous, ovate, acute or obtuse, transversely 

 T87 T> ochroleucum. reticulated beneath, the lateral ones smaller 



or sometimes wanting ; racemes much elon- 

 gated ; corolla whitish ; pods twisted, 2-4-jointed, the large rhomboid joints 

 smooth and reticulated but the margins downy. {Meibomia Ktze.) — WooiJ- 

 l^n4s, N. J. and Del. to G». wd Mo. Fig, 787, 



