288 



LEGUMINOSJE. 



racemes. Calyx-tube campanulate, more or less adnate to the" ovary, 

 the limb 5-parted, the lobes narrow, retlexed, and persistent. Petals 

 5, ascending. Stamens indefinite, about 20, the outer row with 

 longer filaments. Pistil 1; styles 5, united below; ovary partly or 

 wholly inferior, 5-celled, each cell in fruit divided into 2 by a par- 

 tition from the back. Fruit berry-like, globose, the cells 1-seeded. 

 (Savoy name of the Medlar.) 



1. A. alnifolia Nutt. Shrub 8 to 15 ft. high; leaves mostly 

 elliptic, sharply serrate near the apex or less commonly entire, f to 1^ 

 in. long; petioles 4 to 6 lines long; racemes short and rather dense; 

 petals broadly oblong, or somewhat cuneate at base, 5 lines long; 

 fruit purplish, 2£ or 3 lines in diameter. 



Hillsides of the Coast Kanges: Xapa Valley; Oakland Hills, etc. 

 Sierra Nevada. Very showy and beautiful in Apr. 



64. LEGUMINOS>E. Pea Family. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees with alternate stipulate leaves, in ours com- 

 pound (except in Cercis). Leaflets 1 to many, usually entire. Calyx 

 synsepalous, o-toothed or -cleft, or in Lupinus bilabiate, mostly per- 

 sistent. Corolla with 5 petals, in nearly all of ours papilionaceous, 

 i. e., highly irregular and butterfly-like: the upper petal is called the 

 banner; the lateral petals are called the wings; the two lower petals 

 are joined by their edges to form the keel; the banner in the bud 

 enfolds the wings which in turn cover the keel-petals; the claws of all 

 the petals are free from one another. Stamens 10; united into a sheath 

 around the ovary (monadelphous), or the upper stamen distinct from 

 the others (diadelphous) or sometimes all distinct. Pistil 1, 1-celled. 

 Fruit a legume (2-valved pod), with 1 row of seeds on the ventral 

 side, commonly opening by both the dorsal and ventral sutures, the 

 valve- twisting in opposite directions, or sometimes indehiscent. 

 Seeds mostly kidney-shaped, without endosperm. The corolla of 

 Cercis is nearly regular. Amorpha has but one petal. The excep- 

 tions to the ordinal diagnosis are many but only those which con- 

 cern our flora are here noted. This is one of the largest of the 

 natural orders, many species yielding important products. 



Leaves simple; corolla obscurely papilionaceous, only slightly irregular; 



shrubs 1. Cercis. 



Leaves compound; corolla papilionaceous, except no. 6. 

 Stamens distinct; leaves palmately 3-foliolate. 



Flowers yellow, in racemes; stipules conspicuous; herbs 



2. Thermopsis. 



Flowers purple, solitarv; stipules none; very spiny shrub 



3. Xylothermia. 



Stamens diadelphous or monadelphous. 

 Calyx 5-toothed. 



Leaves unequally pinnate, leaflets many; flowers in racemes or spikes. 

 Herbage not glandular; stamens diadelphous; pod commonly inflated 



or turgid 4. Astragalus. 



Herbage glutinous or glandular-dotted. 



Pod prickly; herb 5. Glycyrrhiza. 



Pod small, smooth, 1 or 2-seeded; shrub 6. Amorpha. 



Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, glandular and aromatic; flowers in 

 axillary spikes; pod indehiscent, 1-seeded; herbs. 7. Psoralea. 



