Pulse Family (Leguminosæ)
(A) Wild or Blue Lupine (Lupinus perennis) receives its generic name from the Latin of wolf, because it was thought that the species preyed upon the soil and made it infertile for other kinds of plants. It is a very common species in sandy places and we often see it on the banks along railroads. The stem is quite stout, erect, hairy, and branching. The leaves have long, slender stems; the leaf, proper, is palmately divided into seven to eleven narrow, smooth-edged leaflets.
The flowers are in long, showy, terminal spikes of pea-like blossoms. Lupine is very common through the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains.
(B) Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis) is a tall branching species with a stem from 3 to 6 feet in height. The leaves are divided into three spatulate-shaped leaflets. The violet-blue flowers grow in long loose spikes; they are about one inch long, have a four- or five-toothed calyx, straight keel and wings, and short standard. The seed-pod has a spur at its tip. This species is common from Pa. to Ga. and west to Mo.
(A) Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) is a very branchy and very bushy herb. The stem divides soon after it leaves the ground, the slender branchlets extending equally in all directions. The leaves are three-parted, wedge-shaped, dull green with a white bloom that gives them a bluish-green appearance. The yellow, butterfly-shaped flowers are in loose clusters at the ends of all the branches.
The roots of Wild Indigo are used by drug concerns for the compounding of a number of medicines. An indigo dye, of a poor quality, can also be made from the plant. Wild Indigo grows in dry, sandy soil from Maine to Minnesota, flowering from June to September.
(B) Rattlebox (Crotolaria sagittalis) receives its name because the seeds rattle about in the large, inflated, blackish seed-pod. It is an annual herb, with a hairy-bending stem and stemless, toothless, pointed-oval leaves alternating along it. The yellow, pea-like flowers are in small clusters at the ends of the branches. It is found in sandy soil, chiefly along the coast, from Mass. to Fla. and Texas and, in the Mississippi basin, to Indiana and South Dakota.
(A) Goats Rue; Cat Gut (Tephrosia virginiana). We find this herb in most all dry, sandy, waste places from N. H. to Minn. and southward.
It is a pea-like plant with a simple, silky-haired, erect stem, leafy to the top where it terminates in a dense raceme or panicle of yellowish-white flowers marked with purple. The flowers are large and numerous; they have a rounded standard but little longer than the wings and keel. Its roots are long, very slender, and very tough.
(B) Partridge Pea (Cassia Chamæcrista) is a handsome species with large, showy yellow flowers measuring about 1¼ inches across; often the five, large, rounded petals have purplish spots at their bases; after flowering long, erect seed-pods are left in the place of each of the blossoms.
The leaves of the Partridge Pea are long and compounded of 20-30 small, blunt, lance-shaped leaflets, each with a tiny awl-like point. The stem is erect, rather smooth, and grows one or two feet tall. We find this plant in dry or sandy fields throughout the United States.
(A) Rabbit-foot Clover; Stone Clover (Trifolium arvense) (European). The stalk of this species is soft, silky, and from 4 to 10 inches high. The light-green leaves have three leaflets with blunt tips. The flower-heads are composed of numerous florets; it is the long, pink, feathery tips of the five-parted calyx that gives the blossom its silky fuzziness; it is quite fragrant and is visited by the smallest butterflies. You may find this species everywhere within our range.
(B) Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) is the most common and the most valuable species of clover. One would hardly believe, knowing how abundant it is in all parts of our range, that this Clover could have been introduced and have become so widely distributed, yet such is the case. One reason that it does so well in this country is that we have a very large number of bumblebees, and it has been found that clover is so dependent upon these insects for fertilization, that, without them, it will soon die out.
The little florets, composing the globular flower-head, are bright crimson-pink. The three leaflets that make up each leaf have whitish-green triangles in the middle.
(A) Alsike or Alsatian Clover (Trifolium hybridum) (European) is quite similar to our native White Clover, but the stem is stout, branching, and juicy. The trifoliate leaves of this species are unmarked and have a simple, rounded end, not notched, but the edge of the leaf is very finely toothed. The florets composing the round flower-heads are cream-colored, tinged with pink; they are very fragrant and laden with nectar.
(B) White Clover (Trifolium repens) is the most common of the White Clovers. It is supposed to be indigenous in the northern parts of our range. It is highly prized as forage for cattle and is often cultivated in fields for that purpose. It is also a favorite with keepers of bees.
Its stems are smooth, reclining, and 4 to 10 inches long. The leaves are composed of three leaflets, heart-shaped or notched at the ends, and usually with a more or less distinct triangular mark in the middle. The flowers are creamy white, slightly pinkish, and very fragrant.
(A) Yellow Clover; Hop Clover (Trifolium agrarium) (European). This Clover is very common in the eastern half of the United States and southern Canada; we find it growing most abundantly along roadsides and in dry or sandy fields.
The stem is quite smooth, slender, erect, and slightly branching and grows from 6 to 15 inches high.
The flower-head is oblong, densely crowded with small, golden-yellow florets, having an alternate scaly arrangement. They bloom from the bottom of the head upward, and, as they mature, turn yellowish-brown and are reflexed, resembling dried hops. Its flowering season is from June until September.
(B) Yellow Melilot; Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis) (European) is a common, weed-like plant, found everywhere in waste places. The stem is tall and branching, growing from 2 to 4 feet high. The leaves are trifoliate, each leaflet being finely toothed and the middle one having a short stem with a double bend. The yellow, clover-like florets are in long, loose racemes, terminating the branches; they have a sweet fragrance.
(A) Alfalfa; Lucerne (Medicago sativa) (European) is found growing wild in waste places or fields most anywhere in our range. It makes an excellent fodder for cattle and will grow in waste, sandy places where it is impossible to raise crops of hay.
The stalk is smooth, slender, branching, and erect; it grows from 1 to 2 feet high. The leaves are three-parted, on long, slender stems with narrow stipules at their base. The purple flowers grow in short, loose racemes at the ends of the slender branches; the seed-pod is curiously twisted or coiled.
(B) Cow Vetch; Blue Vetch (Vicia Cracca) is a trailing herb with a weak, angled stem; it is common on the borders of thickets or the edges of cultivated fields. The stem grows from 2 to 3 feet long and climbs over grasses or low brush by means of small, slender tendrils at the ends of the leaves.
The compound leaves are made up of twenty to thirty small, oval leaflets, each tipped with a tiny sharp-pointed bristle. The light violet-colored, bean-like flowers grow in one-sided racemes.
(A) Ground Nut; Wild Bean (Apios tuberosa) is an exceedingly beautiful climbing vine, attaining lengths of 4 or 5 feet, crawling over walls or fences, or twisting itself about shrubs or other plants. Its pear-shaped, tuberous root is edible, as every country boy knows.
The leaves of the Ground Nut are compounded of five, or sometimes seven, ovate-pointed leaflets; they are toothless, smooth, and light green. The flowers grow in dense, rounded clusters on slender stalks from between the angles of the leaves and the plant stem, and are maroon or lilac-brown. We find Ground Nut in bloom during August and September in damp ground, usually on the borders of swamps or wet meadows, from N. B. to Minn. and southward to the Gulf.
(B) Wild or Hog Peanut (Amphicarpa monoica)is a dainty, trailing vine 2 to 7 feet long. The delicate, light-green leaves are thrice compounded, on slender stems from the angles of which are small, drooping clusters of magenta-lilac blossoms. Other fruitful blossoms at the base of the plant develop into pear-shaped pods with single large seeds.