NAT. ORDER. 
LeguminoscB. 
DALEA ALOPECUROIDES. STRIPED DALEA. 
Class XVI. Monadelphia. Order V. Decandria. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, five-cleft. Vexillum, short, free. Stamens, ten. 
Legume, ovate, one-seeded. Leaves, impari-pinnate. 
Spe. Char. Stem, glabrous and erect, having from ten to fifteen 
pairs of linear-elliptic retuse leaflets ; Spikes of flowers, ovate 
or cylindrical. 
This beautiful flower is almost universally cultivated throughout 
the United States ; more particularly as an ornament than for any 
valuable purposes. The stem is upright, hard, woody, nearly branch- 
less, and rises from three to six feet in height ; the calyx is five-cleft, 
five-toothed, and sometimes beset with numerous glands ; the wings 
and carina are generally found adhering to the tube of the stamens ; 
the vexillum is short and free ; stamens ten, monadelphous ; legume 
ovate, one-seeded, shorter than the calyx ; stipules, adhering to the 
petioles at the base ; leaves generally having the terminal leaflet ses- 
sile ; flowers disposed in pedunculate spikes, which are opposite the 
leaves. 
The Dalea is considerably cultivated at the present time as an 
ornament in the garden : its value, otherwise than for its beautiful 
and elegant appearance, is comparatively limited. As a medicine, 
we have no accounts of its ever being considered of sufficient value 
to warrant its use, or even a trial. Ancient writers have given no 
account of this plant, nor do they seem to have known of its exis- 
tence. Modern botanists, however, have discovered and figured fifty- 
