the top disposed in a long and lax spike; the flowers, at 
- their origin, surrounded by a fuscous membrane, like a sti- 
pula, resembling a pair of membranous sheaths. Calyx red- 
dish, 5-cleft ; segments unequal. Flowers on the top of the 
pedunculus, alternate, remote, either purple or white. Pods 
with four joints, which soon fall off. 
