THE /lAERIC/lN BOTflNIST. 
Vol. VIII. BINGHAMTON. N. Y.. MAY. 1905. No. 5. 
PEA-FLOWERS IN SUMMER. 
BY DR. WILLIAM WHITMAN BAILEY. 
THERE is alwa^'s a something clean-cut and handsome 
about any one of the Leguminosa?. They, indeed, 
furnish quite a number of our showy wild-flowers. This 
is even more evident as one goes west or south. I purpose 
here to speak merely of our New England species, the 
earliest of which, as it is one of the loveliest, is the lupine. 
If one arises early enough on a summer morning, he 
may still find a fire-opal balanced in the center of the 
palmate leaf. These compound leaves, by the way, oi 
seven oblanceolatc, silvery leaflets, are extremely pretty 
and contrast well with the violet-blue or, occasionally,, 
white, racemes of papilionaceous flowers. 
Next with us among the summer peas comes the wild 
indigo with its yellow flowers. It is a custom in New 
England to tie great bunches of this plant to the heads of 
horses, with the belief that they keep off annoying flies. 
The bushy plants, when growing, have a somewhat 
weed}^ untidy look, unless one views them in mass, when 
they have something of the effect of the European gorse 
or broom. They rather like sandy districts or dry 
meadows and pastures. 
Two extremeh' dainty plants which at first one hardly 
suspects to be of the pulse affiliation occur in sandy 
districts, especially near the railroads. These are the wild 
sensitive plants (Cassia cham^ecrista and C. nictitans). 
The nearly regular flowers are yellow, and in the first, are 
tinged near the center with a rich red-brown. The pinnate 
leaves of numerous small leaflets respond more or less 
promptly to a touch, closing upon themselves in pairs. 
The plants are very graceful inhabit and love the sunlight. 
