1. A. hispida (W illd .): stem herbaceous, erect, and (with the petioles and
legumes) somewhat hispid and roughened with prickly tubercles; leaflets
many (20-25) pairs, linear, obtuse; stipules ovate ; racemes 3-5-flówered;
legume distinctly stipitate, 6- 10-jointed, slightly sinuate along the lower margin.—
Willd: sp. 3. p. 1-163; Pursh, ji. 2. p. 485; Nutt. gen. 2. p. Il l ;
Ell. sk. 2. p. 220; Bart. ji. Am. Sept. L p. 102, t. 29; DC. prodr. 2. p.
485. Hedysarum Virginicum, Linn.
Marshy places, along rivers, Pennsylvania ! to West Florida! not found
west of the Alleghany Mountains. Aug.—'(p Stem 2-3 feet high. Leaflets
5-10 lines long, glabrous, with extremely minute pellucid punctures.
Stipules acuminate. Racemes simple, usually bearing a leaf. Calyx unequally
bilabiate; upper lip longer, bifid; lower 3-cleft. Corolla yellow tinged
with red externally : vexijlum emarginate : wings denticulate, scarcely toothed
at the base: keel falcate. Anthers oblong.. Ovary.very hispid. Legume
1J-2J inches long and nearly 3 lines wide, often much constricted between
one or two of the joints.
2. 2E.? nscidula (Michx.) : stem herbaceous, prostrate, viscidly pubescent
slender; leaflets 3-4 pairs, obovate, somewhat hairy beneath; stipules 5-
nerved, oblique; peduncles usually 2-flowered ; bracts resembling the stipules;
legume hispid, 2-3-jointed, deeply constricted mu the lower suture
between the roundish joints.—Michx.! Ji. 2. p. 74; Nutt. gen. 2.p. 141; Ell.
DC. prodt. 2. p. 323. yE. prostrata, Poir. suppl. 4. p. 76.
Sandy soils, South Carolina to East Florida!—(1) Stem 1-2 "feet long
branched, diffuse. Leaflets commonly 3 pairs, 4—6 lines long, often reiu.se7
slightly mucronate, glabrous above. -Stipules and bracts prominently nerved!
Raceme longer than the leaves. Upper lip of thecalyx 2-cleft; the segments
obtuse; lower lip almost equally 3-clelt. Flowers scarcely one-third as large
as in the preceding species, yejlow, on pedicels about 2 lines long': vexillum
roundish, emarginate : wings obovate-oblong : keel harrow, falcate. Anthers
oblong. Ovary hispid. Legume about of an inch long, hispid with rigid
hairs which are glandular at the base, constricted between the joints almost
to the superior suture. Differs from the genuine species of rEschynomenc in
the 5-cleft and scarcely bilabiate calyx, the deeply sinuate legume, the lanceolate
stipules, &c. It will form, with a few South American species, a separate
section, or perhaps a distinct genus, as suggested by Kunth.
42. HEDYSARUM. Linn, (partly); DC. mem.Leg., f prodr. 2. p. 340.
Calyx 5-cleft; the segments linear-subulate, nearly1 equal. Vexillum large:
keel obliquely truncate : wings much shorter than the keel. Stamens dia-
delphous (9 & 1), and with the style abruptly bent in“ward toward the summit.
Legume composed of several compressed 1-seeded orbicular or lenticular
joints, which are connected with each other by the middle. Herbaceous
or suffrutescent plants; perennial. Leaves unequally pinnate, exstipellate.
Racemes spicate, on simple axillary or terminal peduncles. Flowers rather
large, purple, white,, or ochroleucous.
The North American species are all more qr less alpine, and belong to the section
Leiolobium, DC. : thejoints of the legume not echinate or villous. ,
1. H. boreale (Nutt.) : stem erect, strict,,a little decumbent at the base >
lea.ves subsessile ; leaflets 8-12 pairs, oblong, minutely hairy beneath; stipules
united, sheathing, with subulate points; racemes Elongated, on long peduncles-
the flowers very numerous, rather secund, and somewhat imbricately reflexed ;
teeth of the calyx short, unequal; vexillum and wings shorter than the keel;
joints of the legume 3-4, nearly orbicular, glabrous or puberulent, compressed,
rugose-reticulated. Nutt.! gen. 2. p. 110, in jour. acad. Philad. 7.
p. 19, (cxcl. syn.) ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 343; Hook.! Ji. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 155. H.
alpinum, Michx.! Ji. 2. p .,74; Richards.! app. Frankl. journ. ed. 2. p.
28, not of Linn. H. alpinum 0. Americanum, Pursh, fl. 2. p. 484.
Northern Canada, Michaux! (and near cataracts in the Alleghany Mountains,
ex Michx f) to the Arctic Circle, Richardson •! Kotzebue’s Sound,
Beechey; and the Rocky Mountains in lat; 54°, Drummond. Also in dry
barren grounds on the Missouri around Fort Mandan, Nuttall, and near the
sources of that River, Mr. Wyeth! June-July.— Stem rather stout, striate,
minutely pubescent, at length nearly glabrous, 6-12 inches high. Flowers
large and showy, bright violet-purple. Teeth of the palyx shorter than the
tube, triangular-subulate ; the 2 upper ones shortest.—Certainly' very distinct
from H. alpinum of Siberia.
2. H. Mackenzii (Richards.): stern somewhat decumbent; leaves petiol-
ed ; leaflets about 5 pairs, oblong, canescently hairy on both sides; stipules
partly united, sheathing, with long subulate points ; racemes short, on peduncles
about the length of the leaves; flowers (large) 7-10, somewhat spreading;
teeth of the calyx narrowly subulate, longer than the tube ; vexillum and
wings almost as lopg as the keel; joints of the legume transversely rugose,
pubescent.—Richards. ! app. Frankl. journ. ed. 2. p. 28 ; Hook. 1. c.
0. upper surface of the leaflets and ovary glabrous. Hook.! 1. c.
Barren grounds, Saskatchewan, north to the Arctic Sea and west to the
mountains, Ric.harson! Drummondi—Flowers larger and brighter colored
than in the preceding species, or perhaps than any other of the genus.—According
to Richardson, this plant is the Liquorice mentioned by Mackenzie
in bis- Voyage to the Arctic Spa.
3. H. canescens (Nutt.! mss.): “ stems numerous from the same root,
erect or decumbent, minutely canescent; leaves on short petioles; leaflets 4-6
pairs, narrowly oblong or cuneate-oblong, canescent; stipules very small,
sheathing, with subulate points; racemes short; the peduncles longer than
the leaves; wings .much shorter than the keel; joints of the legume 3-4,
oval-orbicular, nearly glabrous, transversely rugose-reticulated.”
“ Plains of the Roeky Mountains, particularly near Lewis’s River,—Plant
R2 feet high: stems decumbent at the base, stout, branching.” Nuttall.—
Racemes at length elongated. Flowers somewhat spreading (reflexed in
fruit), about the size of those of H. boreale. Teeth of the calyx narrowly
subulate, rather longer than the tube.—Intermediate in some respects between
the two preceding species.
43. DESMODIUM. DC. mem. Leg., $ prodr. 2. p. 325 ; W. <$■ Am*
prodr. Ind. Or. 1. p. 223.
Species of Hedysarum, Linn.—Desmodium & Hedysarum, Desv., Kunth.
Calyx with 2 bracteoles at the base, bilabiate (rarely almost entire) ; upper
lip 2-cleft or bidentate; the lower 3-parted or 3-toothed. Corolla inserted into
the base of the calyx : vexillum roundish: keel obtuse, but not truncate.
Stamens diadelphous (9 & 1), or monadelphous from the base to the middle
and diadelphous above (rarely perfectly monadelphous): filaments somewhat
persistent. Style filiform: stigma capitate. Legume (loment) compressed
composed of several 1-seeded joints, which at length separate.—Herbaceous
or suffruticose plants. Leaves'pinnately trifoliolate (or sometimes reduced
to a single leaflet) ; the lateral leaflets 1-stipellate, the terminal one 2-stipel