[++][++] Pod sessile.
11. A. grácilis, Nutt. Subcinereous, slender (1° high or more); leaflets 11–17, linear, obtuse or retuse; racemes loose; flowers small (3´´ long); pods pendent, 2–3´´ long, coriaceous, elliptic-ovate, concave on the back, the ventral suture prominent, white-hairy, at length glabrous, transversely veined.—Minn. to Neb. and Mo., and westward.
12. A. distórtus, Torr. & Gray. Low, diffuse, many-stemmed, subglabrous; leaflets 17–25, oblong, emarginate; flowers in a short spike, pale-purple; pod ovate- or lance-oblong, curved, 6–9´´ long, glabrous, thick-coriaceous, somewhat grooved on the back, the ventral suture nearly flat.—Ill. to Iowa, Mo., Ark. and Tex.
13. A. lotiflòrus, Hook. Hoary or cinereous with appressed hairs; stems very short; leaflets 7–13, lance-oblong; flowers yellowish, in few-flowered heads, with peduncles exceeding the leaves or very short; calyx campanulate, the subulate teeth exceeding the tube; pod oblong-ovate, 9–12´´ long, acuminate, acute at base, canescent, the back more or less impressed, the acute ventral suture nearly straight.—Sask. to Neb. and Tex., west to the mountains.
14. A. Missouriénsis, Nutt. Short-caulescent, hoary with a closely appressed silky pubescence; leaflets 5–15, oblong, elliptic or obovate; flowers few, capitate or spicate, 5–8´´ long, violet; calyx oblong, the teeth very slender; pod oblong (1´ long), acute, obtuse at base, pubescent, nearly straight, obcompressed or obcompressed-triangular, depressed on the back and the ventral suture more or less prominent, transversely rugulose.—Sask. to Neb. and N. Mex.
II. Pod 1-celled, neither suture being inflexed or the ventral more intruded than the dorsal.—Phaca.
15. A. Coòperi, Gray. Nearly smooth, erect (1–2° high); leaflets 11–21, elliptical or oblong, somewhat retuse, minutely hoary beneath; flowers white, rather numerous in a short spike; calyx dark-pubescent; pod coriaceous, inflated, ovate-globose (6–9´´ long), acute, glabrous, slightly sulcate on both sides, cavity webby.—Ont. and western N. Y. to Minn. and Iowa.
16. A. flexuòsus, Dougl. Ashy-puberulent, ascending (1–2° high); leaflets 11–21, mostly narrow; flowers small, in loose racemes; pod thin-coriaceous, cylindric (8–11´´ long, 2´´ broad), pointed, straight or curved, puberulent, very shortly stipitate.—Red River Valley, Minn., to Col.
22. OXÝTROPIS, DC.
Keel tipped with a sharp projecting point or appendage; otherwise as in Astragalus. Pod often more or less 2-celled by the intrusion of the ventral suture.—Our species are low, nearly acaulescent perennials, with tufts of numerous very short stems from a hard and thick root or rootstock, covered with scaly adnate stipules; pinnate leaves of many leaflets; peduncles scape-like, bearing a head or short spike of flowers. (Name from ὀξύς, sharp, and τρόπις, keel.)
[*] Leaves simply pinnate.
1. O. campéstris, DC., var. cærùlea, Koch. Pubescent or smoothish; leaflets lanceolate or oblong; flowers violet or blue, sometimes pure white; pods ovate or oblong-lanceolate, of a thin or papery texture.—N. Maine to Labrador.
2. O. Lambérti, Pursh. Silky with fine appressed hairs; leaflets mostly linear; flowers larger, purple, violet, or sometimes white; pods cartilaginous or firm-coriaceous in texture, silky-pubescent, strictly erect, cylindraceous-lanceolate and long-pointed, almost 2-celled by intrusion of the ventral suture.—Dry plains, Sask. and Minn. to Mo. and Tex., west to the mountains.
[*][*] Leaflets numerous, mostly in fascicles of 3 or 4 or more along the rhachis.
3. O. spléndens, Dougl. Silvery silky-villous (6–12´ high); scape spicately several to many-flowered; flowers erect-spreading; pod ovate, erect, 2-celled, hardly surpassing the very villous calyx.—Plains of Sask. and W. Minn., to N. Mex. and the Rocky Mts.
23. GLYCYRRHÌZA, Tourn. Liquorice.
Calyx with the two upper lobes shorter or partly united. Anther-cells confluent at the apex, the alternate ones smaller. Pod ovate or oblong-linear, compressed, often curved, clothed with rough glands or short prickles, scarcely dehiscent, few-seeded. The flower, etc., otherwise as in Astragalus.—Long perennial root sweet (whence the name, from γλυκύς, sweet, and ῥίζα, root); herbage glandular-viscid; leaves odd-pinnate, with minute stipules; flowers in axillary spikes, white or bluish.
1. G. lepidòta, Nutt. (Wild Liquorice.) Tall (2–3° high); leaflets 15–19, oblong-lanceolate, mucronate-pointed, sprinkled with little scales when young, and with corresponding dots when old; spikes peduncled, short; flowers whitish; pods oblong, beset with hooked prickles, so as to resemble the fruit of Xanthium on a smaller scale.—Minn. to Iowa and Mo., and westward; Ft. Erie, Ont.
24. ÆSCHYNÓMENE, L. Sensitive Joint-Vetch.
Calyx 2-lipped; the upper lip 2-, the lower 3-cleft. Standard roundish; keel boat-shaped. Stamens diadelphous in two sets of 5 each. Pod flattened, composed of several easily separable joints.—Leaves odd-pinnate with several pairs of leaflets, sometimes sensitive, as if shrinking from the touch (whence the name, from αἰσχυνομένη, being ashamed.)
1. Æ. híspida, Willd. Erect, rough-bristly annual; leaflets 37–51, linear; racemes few-flowered; flowers yellow, reddish externally; pod stalked, 6–10-jointed.—Along rivers, S. Penn. to Fla. and Miss. Aug.
25. CORONÍLLA, L.
Calyx 5-toothed. Standard orbicular; keel incurved. Stamens diadelphous, 9 and 1. Pod terete or 4-angled, jointed; the joints oblong.—Glabrous herbs or shrubs, with pinnate leaves, and the flowers in umbels terminating axillary peduncles. (Diminutive of corona, a crown, alluding to the inflorescence.)
C. vària, L. A perennial herb with ascending stems; leaves sessile; leaflets 15–25, oblong; flowers rose-color; pods coriaceous, 3–7-jointed, the 4 angled joints 3–4´´ long.—Conn. to N. J. (Nat. from Eu.)
26. HEDÝSARUM, Tourn.
Calyx 5-cleft, the lobes awl-shaped and nearly equal. Keel nearly straight, obliquely truncate, not appendaged, longer than the wings. Stamens diadelphous, 5 and 1. Pod flattened, composed of several equal-sided separable roundish joints connected in the middle.—Perennial herbs; leaves odd-pinnate. (Name composed of ἡδύς, sweet, and ἄρομα, smell.)
1. H. boreàle, Nutt. Leaflets 13–21, oblong or lanceolate, nearly glabrous; stipules scaly, united opposite the petiole; raceme of many deflexed purple flowers; standard shorter than the keel; joints of the pod 3 or 4, smooth, reticulated.—Lab. to northern Maine and Vt.; north shore of L. Superior, and north and westward.
27. DESMÒDIUM, Desv. Tick-Trefoil.
Calyx usually more or less 2 lipped. Standard obovate; wings adherent to the straight or straightish and usually truncate keel, by means of a little transverse appendage on each side of the latter. Stamens diadelphous, 9 and 1, or monadelphous below. Pod flat, deeply lobed on the lower margin, separating into few or many flat reticulated joints (mostly roughened with minute hooked hairs, by which they adhere to the fleece of animals or to clothing).—Perennial herbs, with pinnately 3-foliolate (rarely 1-foliolate) leaves, stipellate. Flowers (in summer) in axillary or terminal racemes, often panicled, and 2 or 3 from each bract, purple or purplish, often turning green in withering. Stipules and bracts scale-like, often striate. (Name from δεσμός,