144 
POPULAR FLORA. 
4. Rabbit-foot C. Silky, low, erect, and branching; root annual; leaflets narrow; flowers whitish, 
in dense and soft-silky oblong heads. Common in poor dry land. T. arvense. 
5. Yellow C. Low, annual, smoothish; corolla yellow, turning brownish. Waste grounds. 
T. agrarium- 
Melilot (or Sweet-Clover). Melilotus. 
Flowers in a raceme or spike, small. Corolla falling after flowering. Pod roundish and small, like 
an akene, hardly opening, containing only one or two seeds. — Annuals or biennials, with sweet-scented 
foliage; leaflets three, toothed. Growing in gardens and around houses. 
1. Yellow Melilot. Leaflets obovate or oblong, obtuse; corolla light yellow. M. officinalis. 
2. White M. Leaflets as if cut off square at the end; corolla white. M. alba. 
Medick. Medicdgo. 
Flowers like those of Melilot, either few or many in a cluster. Pod curved or coiled, either kidney¬ 
shaped or rolled up spirally in various ways. Leaves of 3 leaflets. 
1. Lucerne, or Purple Medick. Stems upright from a deep perennial root; 
leaflets obovate-oblong ; flowers purple in short racemes ; pods spiral. 
Cultivated for green fodder. M. saliva. 
2. Black M. Stems reclining; leaflets wedge-obovate; flowers yellow, in 
short spikes; pods curved (Fig. 358), wrinkled, turning blackish. Waste 
grounds. M. lupul'ina. 
3. Snail M., with 2-flowered peduncles, is sometimes cultivated in gardens, on account of its singular 
pods coiled like a shell (Fig. 359). M. scutellata. 
Everlasting-Pea or Yetchling. Lathyrus. 
Lobes or teeth of the calyx not leafy. Style flattish. Otherwise the flowers nearly the same as in 
the true Pea. 
* Garden species, cultivated for ornament; with winged stems and only one pair of leaflets. 
1. Sweet Pea. Root annual; flowers 2 or 3 on a long peduncle, sweet-scented ‘ L. odorcitus. 
2. Garden Everlasting-Pea. Root perennial; flowers many, pink or purple. L. latifolius. 
* * Wild species, with perennial roots and more than one pair of leaflets. 
3. Marsh E. Stems lightly winged or margined; leaflets 2 to 4 pairs, lance-linear or lance-oblong; 
stipules lance-shaped; flowers 2 to 5, purple. Moist ground, N. L. palustris. 
4. Pale E. Leaflets 3 or 4 pairs, ovate, pale; stipules rather large, half heart-shaped; flowers 7 to 10, 
cream-color. Banks and thickets, W. & N. L. ochroleiicus. 
5. Veiny E. Leaflets 5 to 7 pairs, oblong or ovate; stipules very small; flowers many on the peduncle, 
purple. Shady banks, S. & W. L. venosus. 
6. Beach Pea. Leaflets 4 to 6 pairs, oval or obovate; stipules large and leafy; flowers 6 to 10 on the 
peduncle, purple. Shore of the sea, N. and of the Great Lakes. L. marilimus. 
Vetch or Tare. Vida. 
Like the last, but with small and usually more numerous leaflets; and the thread-shaped style hairy 
round the end or down the outer side. 
* Perennials, all wild species: flowers small, in a raceme on a long peduncle. 
1. Tufted V. Downy; leaflets many, lance-oblong, strongly mucronate ; flowers crowded, bent 
down in the spike, blue, turning purple, summer. Thickets, N. V. Cracca. 
