476 
DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. Psoralca. 
petiolata, digitato'-quinata. Foliola subpetidata, lanceo- 
iata, utrinque acuta, integerriraai plana, supra glabra, 
punctis vix conspicuis confertissime adspersa, subtus 
pilosa, uncialia. Petioli communes terCtes, folio loh- 
giores. Stipulce persistentes, ad basin petiolorum op- 
positae, oblongo-lanceolatae, acutae. Spicce axillares, 
pedunculatae, densiflorae, bracteatae, foliis longiores. 
Bractece lato-ovatae, acuminatae, calyce breviores. 
Flores sessiles, caerulei, magnitudine et figura Vici(s 
sativce. Calyx hirsutissimus, 5-fidus s. profunde 5- 
dentatus : dentibus iineari-lanceolatis : 2. lateralibus 
subfalcatis : inferus latior. Corolla : Vexillum obo- 
vatum, inferne utrinque glandula instructum, calyce 
paulo longiore. Alee serni-ovatae, vexilio breviores. 
Carina obionga. Legumen calyce tectum, raonosper- 
mum, hirsutum, rostro ensiformi, glabro, calyce lon- 
giore instructum. Semen reniforme, nigrum. 
It approaches very near to P. pentaphylla Willd. sp, 
pi. 3. p. 1352. which is fully described and figured by 
B. Jussieu in Act. par. 1744. p. 381. i. 17* But not 
only the botanical difference, but the medical use 
made of the Mexican plant, proves their distinctness. 
The present plant produces the famous Bread-root of 
the American Western Indians, on which they partly 
subsist in winter. They collect them in large quanti- 
ties, and if for present use, they roast them in the ashes, 
when they give a food similar to yams : if intended 
for winter use, they are carefully dried, and preserved 
in a diy place in their huts. When wanted for use, 
they are mashed between two stones, mixed with some 
winter, and baked in cakes over the coals. It is a 
wholesome and nourishing food, and, according to 
Mr. Lewis’s observation, agreeable to most constitu- 
tions j which, he observed, was not the case with the 
rest of the . roots collected by those Indians for food. 
This root has been frequently found by travellers in 
the canoes of the Indians, but the plant which pro- 
duces it has not been known until lately. 
Luphiellus. 7- P* foliis quino-digitatis : foliolis angustissime linearibus, 
spica pauciflora, leguminibus ovoideis, uncinato-mu- 
cronatis, nervoso-rugosis. — Mich.Ji. amer. 2. p. 58. 
In barren fields of Carolina. 1/ . v.s. in Herb. Lyon. 
Flowers very small. The leaves of the whole genus 
are covered with resinous dots. 
