uncinate-pubescent, of 3-5 triangular-rhomboid joints.—DC. ! 1. c.; Dar-
lingt.! 1. c. Hedysarum paniculatum, Linn.! spec. 2. p. 748 ; Pursh !
1. c .; Willd. ! 1. c .; Ell. 1. c.
0. angustifolium: leaves all narrower.
y. pubens: stem puberulenf; leaves oblong-lanceolate, rather rigid, pubescent,
especially beneath.
Borders of woods, &c. Canada ! to Florida ! Louisiana ! and Texas! 0.
Southern and Western States! y. Tampa Bay, Florida, Dr. Burrows!
Western Louisiana, Dr. Hale! July-Aug.—Stem 2-3 feet high. Leaflets
1—3 inches long, minutely pubescent with appressed hairs on both sides.
Flowers purple. Legumes rather large; the joints oblong, distinctly angled
on the back, so as to form an inequilateral rhomboid.
19. D. rotundifollum (D C .): stem prostrate, hirsute ; leaflets orbicular, pubescent
; stipules large, broadly ovate, acuminate, reflexed, persistent;
racemes axillary and terminal; bracts resembling the stipules ; calyx about
equally 4-cleft, the upper segment 2-toothed, the lower a little longest;
legumes minutely hispid, almost equally sinuate on both edges, with 3-5
rhomboid-oval joints.—DC. ! 1. c .; Darlingt.! Jl. Cest.p. 330. Hedysarum
rotnndifolium, Michx. ! Jl. 2. p. 72; Pursh ! jl. 2. p. 484 ; Ell. sfc. 2. p.
213; Bigel. jl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 274.
In dry soil, N ew England States ! and New York! to Georgia ! Alabama!
and Louisiana! Aug.—Stem somewhat branched, 2-4 feet in length, angular.
Leaflets large, usually hairy on both sides and ciliate ; the terminal one
largest, and slightly rhomboid. Racemes rather few-flowered ; the terminal
ones often panicled. Corolla bright purple and violet. Legumes about an
inch long.—Elliott and Dr. Darlington, on the authority of Muhlenberg, incorrectly
consider this as the Hedysarum canescens of Willdenow ; concerning
which see note at the end of the genus.
20. D. humifusum (Beck) : stem procumbent, striate, almost glabrous;
leaflets oval, slightly pubescent; stipules ovate-lanceolate, persistent; racemes
axillary and terminal; bracts resembling the stipules; upper lip of
the calyx deeply 2-toothed; teeth of the lower lip very acute, the middle one
prolonged ; legumes minutely hispid, slightly sinuate or repand along the superior
margin, on a short stipe, of 2-4 obtusely triangular joints.—Beck, hot.
p . 86. Hedysarum humifusum, Muhl. cat.; Bigel. ! Jl. Bost. ed. 2.p. 274.
Massachusetts, near Boston, Bigelow! Dr. Boott! Near Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, and Carolina (?), Muhlenberg. August.—Resembles D. ro-
tundifolium, but the whole plant is much smoother, the leaves oval, the
stipules and legumes also different. 'Muhlenberg, in his unpublished Flora
Lancastriensis, remarks that he has H. humifusum both from New England
and Carolina; but his description does not perfectly agree with the plant from
Massachusetts, which alone we have seen. 21
21. D. lineatum (D C .): stem angled and finely striate, slightly pubescent;
leaves on short petioles; leaflets (small) orbicular, nearly glabrous ; stipules
triangular-subulate, small, persistent; flowers mostly in terminal elongated
loose panicles; upper lip of the calyx 2-cleft, the middle segment of the
lower lip longest; legumes (small) sessile, minutely hispid, of about 3 nearly
orbicular rather oblique joints.—DC. prodr. 2. p. 330 ; Hook. ! compan. to
lot. mag. 1. p. 23. Hedysarum lineatum, Michx. ! Jl. 2. p. 72 ; Ell. sk. 2.
p . 214.
Carolina, Michaux ! Virginia, Mr. Curtis ! Middle Florida, Dr. Alexander
! Dr. Chapman ! Alabama, Mr. Buckley ! Louisiana, Drummond !
Dr. Hale !—This very distinct species derives its name from the finely striate
stems. The leaves resemble those of D. rotundifolium, but are very
much smaller than the ordinary forms of that species.
0
The species of this extremely difficult genus present such diversities, and often
appear to approach each other by such gradations, that it is by no means easy to
define them properly. The most constant characters may commonly be derived
from the form of the joints of the legume ; but these are frequently slight and not
easy to be expressed in words. Having obtained additional materials and information
since our account of the earlier portion of this genus was published (Oct.
1838; to spec. no. 8. p. 360), we append a few notes on the subject.
The genus Ototropis, N. ab E. (delect. serri. hort. Vratisl. 1838, p. 3.) would
include many of our species, so far as the calyx is concerned, and several agree
with it in the form of the legumes; but in this respect every gradation may be observed,
and other species which agree with Ototropis in fruit have a very different
calyx ; so that we see not how it can be adopted even as a section. It should have
been stated, perhaps, in the generic character of Desmodium, that the upper lip of
the calyx is often entire, and sometimes the calyx is nearly equally 4- or 5-toothed.
The joints of the pod are reticulated and more or less hispid with uncinate hairs in
all our species.
D. Canadense, DC.! (Hedysarum Canadense, Linn. hort. Cliff.! spec. !)
To the character should be added : Petioles very much shorter than the leaflets;
stipules rather persistent; legumes nearly sessile (much smaller than in D. canescens),
of about 5 roundish rather oblique joints.
/?. longifolium : leaflets lanceolate-ovate,.membranaceous; stipules lanceolate;
racemes more lax.—D. longifolium, Nutt.! mss.—Arkansas, Nuttall! Dr.
Pitcher !—We have specimens intermediate between this and the ordinary form of
the species, collected in Illinois by Mr. Buckley. The petioles in D. Canadense
are ordinarily scarcely longer than the petiolule of the terminal leaflets; but this
variety somewhat approaches D. canescens.
D. canescens, DC. (ex syn. & deser.) Hedysarum canescens, Linn. hort.
Cliff. ! (1737) tjr ex syn. Gronov. ! not of hort. Ups.! (1748), which is a Jamaica
plant; excluding also the syn. H. triphyllum, &c. Sloane! and Onobrychis
Americana, floribus spicatis. &c. Pluk. ! which both relate to another West Indian
species. H. viridiflorum, Willd. ! Pursh ! fyc. D. viridiflorum, DC. ! <J*c.—The
H. canescens, Willd. ! is the Linns an plant of the Hortus Upsalensis. Our plant
is accordingly, as we supposed, the original II. canescens, according to the specimen
in the herbarium of the Hortus Cliffortianus, now belonging to the British Museum.
The proper herbarium of Linnsus contains the plant of the Hortus Upsalensis
only. It is the former which Linnaeus compares with H. Canadense (also
established in Hort. Cliff.) To distinguish it more perfectly from this as well as
the two species with which Linnaeus confounded it, we add the following
characters: Petioles about the length of the broadly ovate leaflets, which
are reticulated beneath, and scabrous on both sides, but especially beneath, with
long and stiff appressed hairs and a minute uncinate pubescence; legume with a
short stipe.
ƒ?. villosissimum: panicle and upper part of the stem very villous ; leaflets oblong
ovate ; upper lip of the calyx sometimes very deeply cleft.—D. Canadense,
var. Hoolc. Am. compan. to hot. mag. 1. p. 22.—St. Louis, Missouri, Drummond
!
D. Dillenii, Darlingt. (D. Boottii, Torr. ! in Curtis, cat. Wilmingt.pl. Hedysarum
Marilandicum, Willd.!)—The joints of the legume were accidentally
described as oblong instead of rhomboid. It varies greatly in the size of the
leaves, which are sometimes obtuse at both ends, and sometimes acute.
D. viridiflorum, Beck.—Stem scabrous towards the summit; stipules rather persistent.—
In specimens from Florida, recently received, with mature fruit, we find
the legumes somewhat even on the back; the joints slightly convex on that side,
and much dilated and rounded below, so as to assume a rather semi-orbicular outline.
The old leaves are less tomentose beneath. We have another form from
Louisiana (Dr. Hale), with ovate-oblong leaves, and the joints of the young legumes
somewhat rhomboidal. Possibly two or more species are confounded under
this name.
Hedysarum volubile, Linn, (founded on Dill, Elth. t. 143, ƒ. 170.) is Gaiactia
pilosa or G. mollis.
_