[+] _Spikes short and thick (4--9´´ in diameter); bracts persisting after the fall of the (middle-sized) rose or greenish purple flowers; crest small._ 10. P. cruciàta, L. Stems (3--10´ high) almost winged at the angles, with spreading opposite branches; leaves nearly all in fours, linear and somewhat spatulate or oblanceolate; _spikes sessile or nearly so; wings broadly deltoid-ovate, slightly heart-shaped, tapering to a bristly point_ or rarely pointless; caruncle nearly as long as the seed.--Margin of swamps, Maine to Va. and southward near the coast, and west to Minn. and Neb. 11. P. brevifòlia, Nutt. Rather slender, branched above; leaves scattered on the branches, narrower; _spikes peduncled; wings lanceolate-ovate, pointless or barely mucronate_.--Margin of sandy bogs, R. I., N. J. and southward. [+][+] _Spikes slender (about 2´´ thick), the bracts falling with the flowers, which are small, greenish-white or barely tinged with purple, the crest of the keel larger._ 12. P. verticillàta, L. Slender (6--10´ high), much branched; stem-leaves all whorled, those of the (mostly opposite) branches scattered, linear, acute; spikes peduncled, usually short and dense, acute; wings round, clawed; the 2-lobed caruncle half the length of the seed.--Dry soil; common. Var. ambígua. Leaves (and branches) all scattered or the lowest in fours; spikes long-peduncled, more slender, the flowers often purplish and scattered. (P. ambigua, _Nutt._)--N. Y. to Mo., and southward. [*][*][*][*] _Biennials or annuals, with alternate leaves, and yellow flowers, which are disposed to turn greenish in drying; crest small; flowering all summer._ 13. P. lùtea, L. Low; _flowers (bright orange-yellow) in solitary ovate or oblong heads_ (¾´ thick) terminating the stem or simple branches; leaves (1--2´ long) obovate or spatulate; lobes of the _caruncle nearly as long as the seed._--Sandy swamps, N. J. and southward, near the coast. 14. P. ramòsa, Ell. _Flowers (citron-yellow) in numerous short and dense spike-like racemes_ collected in a flat-topped _compound cyme_; leaves oblong-linear, the lowest spatulate or obovate; _seeds_ ovoid, minutely hairy, _twice the length of the caruncle_.--Damp pine-barrens, Del. and southward. 15. P. cymòsa, Walt. Stem short, naked above, the numerous racemes in a usually nearly simple cyme, leaves narrow, acuminate; seeds globose, without caruncle.--Del. and southward. ORDER 32. LEGUMINÒSÆ. (PULSE FAMILY.)