PULSE FAMILY. Leguminosae. 



yellow slender blossoms are green-tinged especially at the 

 base, and are thickly set in a dense spike springing from 

 the junction of the leaf-stalk with the plant stem. They 

 are cross-fertilized mostly by the long-tongued bees ; 

 the bumblebees, Bombus separatus, B. americanorum, 

 and B. pennsylvanicus ai'e frequent visitors, as are the 

 butterflies, Colias philodice, the clouded sulphur, and 

 Papilio asterias, the black swallowtail. The flowers 

 are succeeded by short, broad, leathery, straight, and 

 pointed pods. 1-4 feet high. Along streams and river- 

 banks, from western New York, and on the shores and 

 islands of Lake Champlain, N. Y. and Vt., south to Ga. 

 and La., and west to Col. 



An annual (adventive from Europe), 

 Black Medick w ith a somewhat twisted stem partly lying 

 Medicago on the ground, slightly downy oivrough ; 



lupulina the three leaflets obovate or wedge-shaped 



Yellow w i th a bristle tip. The yellow flowers in 



September small, short spikes. About 6 inches high. 

 Pods almost black, kidney-formed, con- 

 taining but one seed. Common in waste places every- 

 where. 



Tick Trefoil ^ common weed which flourishes in 



Desmodium dry woods. The generally leafless flower- 

 nudiflorum stem rises from the rpot, and bears a 

 Pale magenta sca ttered cluster of very small magenta- 



JuIy^August P ink or lilac flowers > the broad upper 

 petals of which are notched at the apex 

 and turned backward, the lower narrow ones are lilac 

 and white ; the stamens are prominent. The flower is 

 fertilized by honeybees and many other smaller bees, 

 especially those of the genus Halictus. The stout, 

 shorter leaf-stalk is terminated by the leaf-clusters, of 

 three ovate, toothless leaflets. The hairy two- jointed 

 pods or seed-vessels stick to one's clothing or are dis- 

 tributed by some similar means of transportation. 18- 

 25 inches high. In woodlands from Me., south, and 

 west to Minn. 



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