long, on
short pedicels, in numerous but few flowered terminal racemes.
Calyx light green, 4 or 5-toothed; corolla of 5 oblong petals,
the standard erect, the keel enclosing 10 incurved stamens and
pistil. Stem: Smooth, branched, 2 to 4 ft. high. Leaves:
Compounded of 3 ovate leaflets. Fruit: A many-seeded round or
egg-shaped pod tipped with the awl-shaped style.
Preferred Habitat - Dry, sandy soil.
Flowering Season - June-September.
Distribution - Maine and Minnesota to the Gulf States.
Dark grayish green, clover-like leaves, and small, bright yellow
flowers growing in loose clusters at the ends of the branches of
a bushy little plant, are so commonly met with they need little
description. A relative, the true indigo-bearer, a native of
Asia, once commonly grown in the Southern States when slavery
made competition with Oriental labor possible, has locally
escaped and become naturalized. But the false species, although,
as Dr. Gray says, it yields "a poor sort of indigo," yields a
most valuable medicine employed by the homeopathists in malarial
fevers.
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