I 54 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



obovate standard; pods oblong-lanceolate, pointed and hairy, about I 

 inch long. 



In moist, shaded places, New Brunswick to Florida, west to Manitoba, 

 Nebraska and Louisiana. Flowering from early in August until late in 

 September. 



Falcata pitcheri (Torrey & Gray) Kuntze, very closely 

 related to the preceding species, has leaves of a firmer texture and the 

 stems, petioles and flowering stalks villous-pubescent with conspicuous 

 brown hairs. 



Trailing Wild Bean 

 Strophostyles helvola (Linnaeus) Britton 



Plate i i 8b 



A twining or trailing and climbing, herbaceous, rough-pubescent vine. 

 Stems more or less branched below, 2 to 7 feet long, or dwarfed and almost 

 erect, from an annual root. Leaves pinnately three -foliolate; leaflets ovate, 

 pointed or blunt at the apex, the base rounded, thickish in texture, usually 

 bluntly lobed, 1 to 2 inches long, the two lower leaves unequal at the base. 

 Flowers greenish purple, about one-half of an inch long, three to twelve 

 together in dense, capitate clusters at the ends of long, axillary stalks which 

 are longer than the leaves; keel of the corolla strongly curved and slender. 

 Fruiting pod round in cross-section, somewhat hairy, linear and without a 

 stalk, 1^ to 3 inches long. 



In sandy fields and thickets, mainly near the coast, Quebec to Massa- 

 chusetts and Florida, less frequent westward through Ontario to South 

 Dakota and Kansas. Flowering from the latter part of July to September 

 and October. 



A closely related species of Long Island and southward, S. umbel- 

 1 a t a (Muhlenberg) Britton, has shorter pods, slightly larger flowers, 

 entire leaflets and perennial roots. 



