412 DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA 



Hedy8arum paniculatum. Willd. Sp. 3. p. 1196. Pers. Syn. 2. p t 

 322. Ait. Keiu % 4. p. 344. Muhl. CataL p. 66. Pur^A, Am. 2. // 

 483. Awtt. Gen. 2. />. 109. i*«r*. Phil 2. /a 79. £7/ ? Sk. 2. />[ 

 210. Bigel. Bost. p. 276. Flovul. Cestr. p. 82. 7W. Comp, p. wj] 

 Lindl. Ency. p. 632. £a*. Man. p. 166. Not of Jlfx. 

 *4&o ? H. glabcllum. Ell. Sk. 2. /;. 210. Not? of J>fu\ 



Paniculate Desmodium. 



Root perennial. Stem 2 to 3 feet high, rather slender, striate, nearly smooth 

 often branching. Leaflets 1 to 3 inches long, and 1 fourth to 3 fourths of an inch 

 wide, obtuse at base, tapering to the apex but rather obtuse, mostly smooth and 

 shining green above, paler and sparingly pilose beneath, slightly rcvolute on the 

 margin,— the lateral leaflets on very short petioles with each a filiform-subulate 

 stipule at base, the terminal Leaflet with 2 similar stipules near the base, on a 

 partial petiole (or rather a prolongation of the co?nrno?i petiole,) about half an inch 

 long; common petioles 1 to 2 inches long; stipules lance-subulate, deciduous. 

 Flotcers in paniculate racemes ; branches uncinately pubescent; pedicels by twos 

 or threes, slender, pubescent, with caducous bracts at base, the middle or lower 

 bract larger, lance-ovate, acuminate. Calyx pubescent, the 2 upper seg?ncnts co- 

 hering in one, or slightly cleft at apex, the lower one nearly twice as long as the 

 others. Corolla purple. Legume mostly of 3 or 4 joints (sometimes 2, and even 

 1), adhesive by short uncinate hairs ; joints subtriangular, or somewhat rhomboid 

 by an obtuse angle on the upper margin. 



Hab. Woodlands, and borders of thickets : common. Fl. August. JFV. Sept. 



Obs. I have not observed the bracts at the base of the calyx, mentioned as part 

 of the generic character, by De Candolle and Deck. This is readily distinguished 

 from the other species in our County, by its comparatively long and narrow leaf- 

 lets. It is, however, not ihe paniculatum, of Mx. which is the stticlum, of Pursh 

 and DC. Whether it be the glabellum, of Mx. and Ell. I have not the means of 

 determining. There is some obscurity, and confusion, among a portion of our 

 Desmocliutnsy which I am by no means confident of being able to remove,— although 

 I have examined the plants as carefully as I could, and have had the benefit of 

 some valuable assistance. 



2. D. mahilandicux. Stem erect, slender, smoothish ; leaflets round* 

 ish-ovatc, obtuse, subcordate at base, smoothish ; stipules lance-subu- 

 late ; panicle terminal ; legumes with 2 or 3 semi-orbicular reticulate 

 hispid joints. Boott (in Litt.). Not of DC. nor Beck. 

 D. obtusum. DC. Prodr. 2. p. 329. Beck, Bot. p. 84. 

 Hedysarum marilandicum. L. &? Clayt. (Jide Boott. in Litt.). Not 

 of mild. Muhl. &c. 



H. obtusum. mild. Sp. 3. p. 1190. Pers. Syn. 2. p. 321. Muhl. 

 Catal. p. 66. Pursh, Am. 2. p. 482. JVutt. Gen. 2. p. 109. Ell. Sh. 

 2. p. 212. Florut. Cestr. p. 82. Torr. Comp % p. 268. Lindl. Ency. p. 

 632. Eat. Man. p. 166. 



Maryland Desxodiuji. 



Root perennial. Stem 18 inches or 2 feet high, slender, striate, smooth, or very 

 sparingly pilose, mostly simple, or paniculate at summit, often several from the 

 same root. Leaflets 3 fourths of an inch to an inch long, and half an inch to 3 

 quarters wide, obtuse or rounded at apex, sometimes emarginate, slightly cordate 

 at base, thinnish, the lower ones often orbicular, all nearly s.nooth, or with a few 

 hairs on the margin and nerves beneath; common petioles half an inch to an 



