[*][*] Flowers all alike and perfect, in close spikes or heads; corolla whitish or cream-color with a purple spot on the standard, about the length of the downy 5-parted calyx; pod included; stems upright, wand-like (2–4° high).
5. L. polystàchya, Michx. Stem with mostly spreading pubescence; petioles 2–6´´ long; leaflets from orbicular to oblong-ovate, hairy; spikes oblong, on elongated peduncles; pod (at maturity) oblong-ovate, pubescent, nearly 3´´ long, hardly shorter than the calyx. (L. hirta, Ell.)—Dry hills, common.
6. L. capitàta, Michx. Stems rigid, woolly; petioles very short; leaflets oblong to narrowly oblong, thickish, reticulated and mostly smooth above, silky or sometimes downy beneath; heads of flowers globular, on peduncles shorter than the leaves; pod oblong-ovate, pubescent, much shorter than the calyx.—Dry and sandy soil, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn., Mo., and La.
7. L. angustifòlia, Ell. Like the last, but mostly appressed-silky, the leaflets linear, the smaller often oblong heads on distinct and sometimes slender peduncles, the pod round-ovate, acutish, 1½–2´´ long, hardly shorter than the calyx. (L. capitata, var. angustifolia, Pursh.)—N. J. to Fla., west to Mich., Iowa, and La.
8. L. leptostàchya, Gray. Clothed with appressed silky pubescence; stems often branched, slender; leaflets linear to narrowly oblong; spikes slender, somewhat loosely-flowered, on peduncles as long as the leaves; pod ovate, small (1½´´ long), about equalling the calyx, densely pubescent.—Ill., Iowa, and Minn.
§ 2. Stipules and bracts broad and scarious; calyx-lobes broad; annual.
L. striàta, Hook. & Arn. Diffusely branched, decumbent, subpubescent; petioles very short; leaflets oblong-obovate, 6´´ long or less; peduncles very short, 1–5-flowered; pod small, little exceeding the calyx.—Common in the Southern States, extending into Mo. (Nat. from E. Asia.)
29. STYLOSÁNTHES, Swartz.
Calyx early deciduous; tube slender and stalk-like; limb unequally 4–5-cleft, the lower lobe more distinct. Corolla and monadelphous stamens inserted at the summit of the calyx-tube; standard orbicular; keel incurved. Anthers 10, the 5 longer ones fixed near their base, and the 5 alternate shorter ones fixed by the middle. Style filiform, its upper part falling off after flowering, the lower part incurved or hooked, persistent on the 1–2-jointed small and short reticulated pod; the lower joint when present empty and stalk-like.—Low perennials, branched from the base, with wiry stems, pinnately 3-foliolate leaves, the sheathing stipules united to the petiole, no stipels, and small, yellow flowers in terminal heads or short spikes. (Name composed of στύλος, a column, and ἄνθος, a flower, from the stalk-like calyx-tube.)
1. S. elàtior, Swartz. Tufted; leaflets lanceolate, strongly straight-veined; heads or clusters small and few-flowered.—Pine barrens, Long Island and N. J. to Fla., west to S. Ind., Kan., and Ark.