PEA FAMILY. 221 



than the leaves (1 to 1% in. long), bearing a short dense spike of bright 

 yellow flowers; pod reniforni, 1 -seeded, black when ripe. 



Uncommon, but widely distributed. Redlands; Panamint Alts.; Tahoe; 

 Oakland; Sacramento Co.; Humboldt Co.; Sisson. Apr. -June. 



3. M. hispida Gaertn. Bur Clover. Branches spreading or procumbent, 

 from a few in. to 2 ft. long; herbage nearly glabrous; leaflets obovate or 

 obcordate ; stipules finely toothed ; peduncles 3 to 5-flowered, rather longer 

 than the leaves; pod tAvisted into a spiral of 2 or 3 turns, compressed, reticu- 

 lated, the thin keeled edge bordered by a double row of more or less hooked 

 or curved prickles. — (M. denticulata Willd.) 



Very common throughout California on the plains, low hills and in the 

 valleys. Alar.-June, but flowering in moist places at nearly all seasons. 

 Prized as a dry season stock feed, the burs produced in great quantity and 

 highly nutritious; also furnishes a green forage in spring. A rare instance of 

 an aggressive immigrant having forage value. 



4. M. arabica Huds. Spotted Medick. Very similar to no. 3, but the 

 petioles with spreading hairs, the leaflets usually much larger (1 in. long) and 

 with a conspicuous dark splotch in the center; pod compactly spiral, the 

 margin thicker and more or less furrowed between the prickles. — (M. maculata 

 Willd.) 



San Francisco Bay region, uncommon but gradually extending. (Cf. 

 Erythea, vi, 25.) 



5. M. apiculata Willd. Stems spreading, 1 to 2 ft. long; leaflets del- 

 toid, denticulate, except at the base, usually retuse and mucronate at apex, 

 5 or 6 lines long; pod unarmed or the spines very short, the sides strongly 

 reticulated, the reticulations running to the edge and appearing as a row of 

 tubercles on either side of the margin. 



Widely distributed but rare: Xew Almaden; San Francisco; Knights Ferry; 

 Crescent City. By some authors treated as a variety of no. 3. 



6. MELILOTUS Juss. Sweet Clover. 

 Annual or biennial herbs with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves and toothed 

 leaflets. Herbage fragrant in drying. Flowers small, yellow or white, in 

 spike-like racemes on axillary peduncles, in bud erect, soon deflexed and not 

 again becoming erect. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals falling after flowering, free 

 from the stamen tube. Stamens diadelphous, the upper one entirely free. 

 Pod ovoid, straight, longer than the calyx, scarcely dehiscent, 1 or 2-seeded. 

 (Greek meli, honey, and lotos, the ancient name of some plant belonging to this 

 family. Naturalized from the Old World.) 



Flowers white; plants 3 to 6 ft. high 1. M. alba. 



Flowers yellow; plants 1 Yi to 3 ft. high 2. M. indita. 



1. M. alba Desr. White AIelilot. Erect, simple below, branching above; 

 leaflets broadly or narrowly oblong, tapering to both ends, or widest above 

 the middle, serrate except at the very base, y. 2 to l 1 /^ in. long; flowers 2 lines 

 long, in racemes 1 to 4 in. long; pod somewhat wrinkled. 



River beds throughout California or in moist valleys northward, rather 

 rare as yet in our district: Riverside; Pomona; Scott Valley, Lake Co.; Kla- 

 math River, Humboldt Co. ; Ft. Bidwell. Sometimes called Bokhara Clover. 

 At Independence it has (as elsewhere) spread along the irrigation ditches 

 and is "much in the way"; the bees feed upon the flowers and the honey 

 produced from the abundant alfalfa is in consequence as if flavored with 



