PEA FAMILY, Fabaceae. 
leaflets, usually toothed; stipules adhering to the leaf- 
stalks; flowers in heads or spikes; stamens usually in two 
sets of nine and one; pods small, mostly enclosed in the 
calyx, usually with one to six seeds. 
This is very common from the coast to 
atte the Sierra foothills, but there are many 
PEE ER sit named varieties. It is smooth all over 
Purple and grows from eight inches to two feet 
Spring, summer high, with spreading stems and narrow 
Cal., Oreg., Wash. 1..Aets, which are toothless, or have teeth 
and bristles on the edges. The pinkish-purple flowers 
form a broad head, over an inch across, with an involucre. 
This has queer-looking flowers and is 
Sour Clover : 
Trifolium fucdtum CONSpicuous on that account. The 
Cream-color branching stems are a foot or more tall, 
‘Spring, summer the stipules are large, with papery margins, 
Wash., Oreg., Cal. 244 the leaves are bright green, with a 
paler spot near the middle of each of the leaflets, which are 
toothed, or sometimes only bristly on the edges, and the 
flowers form a head about an inch and a quarter across, 
with a broad involucre. The calyx is very small and the 
corolla is cream-color, becoming much inflated and chang- 
ing to deep pink as the flower withers. The effect of the 
cluster is curiously puffy and odd in color. This grows 
rankly in low alkaline and brackish places. 
There are many kinds of Psoralea, widely distributed; 
ours are perennial herbs, without tendrils, the leaves with 
three or five leaflets, with glandular dots on them and 
usually bad-smelling. The flowers are white or purplish, 
and the pod is short, with only one seed. 
a ey d This is a rather pleasing plant, for the 
Saccin Tes foliage is pretty, though the flowers are 
Psoralea physddes too dull in color to be effective. It is 
White almost smooth all over, a foot or more tall, 
Spring, summer 
Cal., Oreg., Wash. 
out a rather pleasant aromatic smell when crushed. The 
flowers are less than half an inch long, with a somewhat 
hairy calyx, covered with dots and becoming inflated in 
fruit, and a yellowish-white corolla, more or less tinged with 
purple. This is common in the woods of the Coast 
Ranges. The foliage was used as tea by the early settlers. 
262 
with several spreading stems and rich © 
green leaves, thin in texture and giving 

