CIRCULAR 863, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



INTRODUCTION 



The farmers of the South first became acquainted with lespe- 

 deza 3 through the important service rendered by the two annual 

 species, common and Korean. These two are the only annual 

 forms among the 125 known species of the genus ; the others are 

 perennials. The lespedezas are found only in eastern North 

 America and in eastern Asia. About 20 perennial species are 

 native to North America. None of the oriental species is indige- 

 nous to America and the American species are not found in the 

 Orient. Of the perennials, some 25 species and varieties have 

 been grown in the nurseries of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. 



The perennial lespedezas may be considered in two groups — 

 shrubby species and herbaceous perennials. To the former group 

 belong such species as Lespedeza bicolor, L. cyrtobotrya, and L. 

 thunbergii. These species make a growth of 6 to 10 feet in 

 height. Where the annual growth is not killed by frost, woody 

 stems that may become 1 to 2 inches in diameter develop. New 

 growth comes from the woody stems each spring. Where winters 

 are severe enough to kill the current growth, new growth comes 

 from the crown buds. All the native American species and 

 L cuneata 5 , L. hedysaroides, L. latissima, and others, are herba- 

 ceous perennials, the annual growth of which dies down to the 

 ground every year. 



Of the oriental species, a few shrubby species as L. bicolor, L. 

 japonica, and L. thunbergii, have long been sparingly used as 

 ornamentals, but not until 1924 when the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture introduced L. cuneata were any perennials 

 used in agriculture in the United States. 



Lespedeza cuneata was first tried in 1896 by McCarthy (19) 

 of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. There 

 is no evidence that he made observations on any but the first 

 year's growth, and on this basis he condemned the plant as being 

 without value. In 1899 Seaman A. Knapp, then in Japan, sent 

 seed of this species to the Office of Foreign Plant Introduction 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, and some of this 

 seed was planted at Arlington Experiment Farm, Va., in 1900. 

 Here it grew for several years, but little attention was paid to it 

 and the plot was later destroyed. Some plants escaped to a remote 

 part of the Arlington farm, where they were found in 1925. The 

 Office of Foreign Plant Introduction also sent seed to a farmer 

 in Tennessee and from this planting the species apparently 

 escaped and became established over a considerable area in Over- 

 ton County, Tenn. (21, 27) . 



In 1924 the Bureau of Plant Industry obtained seed of a number 

 of legumes from Japan, among them seed of Lespedeza cuneata. 



3 For discussion of the annual lespedezas see Pieters (30) . 4 



4 Italic numbers refer to Literature Cited, p. — . 



5 In accordance with the international rules of botanical nomenclature, the 

 name Lesp?deza cuneata has superseded L. sericea. 



