Flowers nearly as in Melilotus. Pod 1--several-seeded, scythe-shaped, incurved, or variously coiled.--Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets toothed; stipules often cut. (Μηδική, the name of Lucerne, because it came to the Greeks from Media.) M. SATÌVA, L. (LUCERNE. ALFALFA.) Upright, smooth, perennial; leaflets obovate-oblong, toothed; _flowers (purple) racemed_; pods spirally twisted.--Cultivated for green fodder; spontaneous from Mass. to Minn. and Kan. (Adv. from Eu.) M. LUPULÌNA, L. (BLACK MEDICK. NONESUCH.) Procumbent, pubescent, annual; leaflets wedge-obovate, toothed at the apex; _flowers in short spikes_ (yellow); _pods kidney-form_, 1-seeded.--Waste places, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Mich., Iowa, and Mo. (Adv. from Eu.) M. MACULÀTA, Willd. (SPOTTED MEDICK.) Spreading or procumbent annual, somewhat pubescent; leaflets obcordate, with a purple spot, minutely toothed; _peduncles 3--5-flowered_; flowers yellow; _pods compactly spiral_, of 2 or 3 turns, compressed, _furrowed on the thick edge_, and fringed with a double row of curved prickles.--N. Brunswick to Mass. (Adv. from Eu.) M. DENTICULÀTA, Willd. Nearly glabrous; _pods loosely spiral, deeply reticulated_, and with a _thin keeled edge_; otherwise like the last, and with the same range. (Adv. from Eu.) 12. HOSÁCKIA, Douglas. Calyx-teeth nearly equal. Petals free from the diadelphous stamens; standard ovate or roundish, its claw often remote from the others; wings obovate or oblong; keel incurved. Pod linear, compressed or somewhat terete, sessile, several-seeded.--Herbs, with pinnate leaves (in ours 1--3-foliolate, with gland-like stipules), and small yellow or reddish flowers in umbels (ours solitary) upon axillary leafy-bracteate peduncles. (Named for _Dr. David Hosack_, of New York.) 1. H. Purshiàna, Benth. Annual, more or less silky-villous or glabrous, often 1° high or more; leaves nearly sessile, the 1--3 leaflets ovate to lanceolate (3--9´´ long); peduncles often short, bracteate with a single leaflet.--N. C.; S. W. Minn. to Ark., and west to the Pacific. Very variable. 13. PSORÀLEA, L. Calyx 5-cleft, persistent, the lower lobe longest. Stamens diadelphous or sometimes monadelphous. Pod seldom longer than the calyx, thick, often wrinkled, indehiscent, 1-seeded.--Perennial herbs, usually sprinkled all over or roughened (especially the calyx, pods, etc.) with glandular dots or points. Leaves mostly 3--5-foliolate. Flowers spiked or racemed, white or mostly blue-purplish. Root sometimes tuberous and farinaceous. (Name, ψωραλέος, _scurfy_, from the glands or dots.) [*] _Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate._ 1. P. Onóbrychis, Nutt. Nearly smooth and free from glands, _erect_ (3--5° high); _leaflets lanceolate-ovate, taper-pointed_ (3´ long); _stipules and bracts awl-shaped_; racemes elongated; peduncle shorter than the leaves; pods roughened and wrinkled.--River-banks, Ohio to Ill. and Mo.; also south and east to S. C. July.