Calyx inversely conical, 5-toothed, persistent. Standard (the other petals entirely wanting!) wrapped around the stamens and style. Stamens 10, monadelphous at the very base, otherwise distinct. Pod oblong, longer than the calyx, 1--2-seeded, roughened, tardily dehiscent.--Shrubs, with odd-pinnate leaves; the leaflets marked with minute dots, usually stipellate, the midvein excurrent. Flowers violet or purple, crowded in clustered terminal spikes. (Name, ἄμορφος, _deformed_, from the absence of four of the petals.) [*] _Pods 1-seeded; leaflets small_ (½´ long or less), _crowded_. 1. A. canéscens, Nutt. (LEAD-PLANT.) _Whitened with hoary down_ (1--3° high); leaflets 15--25 pairs, oblong-elliptical, becoming smoothish above; spikes usually clustered at the summit.--Sask. to Ind. and Tex., west to the Rocky Mts.; also eastward to Ga. 2. A. microphýlla, Pursh. _Nearly glabrous_ throughout, 1° high or less; leaflets rather rigid; spikes usually solitary.--Sask. to Minn. and Iowa, west to the Rocky Mts. [*][*] _Pods 2-seeded; leaflets larger, scattered._ 3. A. fruticòsa, L. (FALSE INDIGO.) A tall shrub, rather pubescent or smoothish, leaflets 8--12 pairs, oblong to broadly elliptical.--River-banks, S. Penn. to Fla., west to Sask., Tex., and the Rocky Mts. Very variable. 15. DÀLEA, L. Calyx 5-cleft or toothed. Corolla imperfectly papilionaceous; petals all on claws; the standard heart-shaped, inserted in the bottom of the calyx; the keel and wings borne on the middle of the monadelphous sheath of filaments, which is cleft down one side. Stamens 10, rarely 9. Pod membranaceous, 1-seeded, indehiscent, enclosed in the persistent calyx.--Mostly herbs, more or less glandular-dotted, with minute stipules; the small flowers in terminal spikes or heads. (Named for _Samuel Dale_, an English botanist.) [*] _Glabrous; flowers white or rose-color; leaflets 4--20 pairs; annuals._ 1. D. alopecuroìdes, Willd. Erect (1--2° high); leaflets 10--20 pairs, linear-oblong; flowers light rose-color or whitish, in cylindrical spikes; bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, deciduous; calyx very villous, with long slender teeth.--Alluvial soil, Minn. to Ill. and Ala., west to the Rocky Mts. 2. D. laxiflòra, Pursh. Erect (1--4° high), branching; leaflets 3--5 pairs, linear, 2--3´´ long; spikes loosely-flowered; bracts conspicuous, persistent, almost orbicular and very obtuse; petals white; calyx densely villous, the long teeth beautifully plumose.--Iowa and Mo. to Tex., west to Col. [*][*] _Pubescent; leaflets 3--4 pairs; perennial herbs._ 3. D. aùrea, Nutt. Stems erect and simple, 1--3° high; leaflets oblong-obovate to linear-oblong, more or less silky-pubescent; spikes solitary, oblong-ovate, very compact and densely silky; bracts short, rhombic-ovate; petals yellow.--On the plains, Mo. to Tex., and westward.