Var. latifòlia, Torr. & Gray. Taller, sometimes branched; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2--4´ long, tapering to each end.--Md. to Mich. and Ky. 4. P. álba, Nutt. Stems several from a hard rootstock, 1° high; leaves narrowly linear, 3--12´´ long, acute; wings oblong-obovate; crest small; lobes of the caruncle half the length of the appressed-silky seed.--Neb. and Kan. to Tex. [*][*] _Annuals, with all the leaves alternate; flowers in terminal spikes, heads or racemes, purple or rose-color, in summer; none subterranean._ [+] _Keel conspicuously crested; claws of the true petals united into a long and slender cleft tube much surpassing the wings._ 5. P. incarnàta, L. Glaucous; stem slender, sparingly branched; leaves minute and linear-awl-shaped; spike cylindrical; flowers flesh-color; caruncle longer than the narrow stalk of the hairy seed.--Dry soil, Penn. to Wisc., Iowa, Neb., and southward; rather rare. [+][+] _Keel minutely or inconspicuously crested; the true petals not longer but mostly shorter than the wings; seed pear-shaped._ 6. P. sanguínea, L. Stem sparingly branched above, leafy to the top; _leaves oblong-linear; heads globular, at length oblong_, very dense (4--5´´ thick), bright red-purple (rarely paler or even white); pedicels scarcely any; _wings broadly ovate, closely sessile_, longer than the pod; the 2-parted _caruncle almost equalling the seed_.--Sandy and moist ground; common. 7. P. fastigiàta, Nutt. Stem slender, at length corymbosely branched; _leaves narrowly linear_, acute, 3--8´´ long; _spikes short and dense_ (3´´ in diameter); the small rose-purple flowers on _pedicels of about the length of the pod_; wings obovate- or oval-oblong, narrowed at the base, scarcely exceeding the pod; _bracts deciduous_ with the flowers or fruits, caruncle as long as and nearly enveloping the stalk-like base of the minutely hairy seed.--Pine barrens of N. J. and Del. to Ky., and southward. 8. P. Nuttàllii, Torr. & Gray. Resembles the last, but usually lower; spikes cylindrical, narrow; flowers duller or greenish purple, on very short _pedicels_; the awl-shaped scaly _bracts persistent_ on the axis after the flowers or fruits fall; seed very hairy, the caruncle smaller.--Dry sandy soil, coast of Mass. to Mo., and southward.--Spike sometimes rather loose. 9. P. Curtíssii, Gray. Slender (9´ high), leaves, etc., as in the two preceding, flowers rose-purple, in usually short racemes; pedicels about equalling or exceeding the persistent bracts; _the narrow oblong erect wings fully twice the length of the pod_; caruncle small, on one side of the stalk-like base of the very hairy _seed_, which is _conspicuously apiculate at the broader end_.--Md. to Ga.--The species was founded upon an abnormal form with elongated racemes and pedicels. [*][*][*] _Annuals with at least the lower stem-leaves whorled in fours, sometimes in fives; spikes terminating the stem and branches; fl. summer and autumn._