Herbs, with odd-pinnate leaves, and purple purplish or yellow flowers, in axillary pedun-cled heads or umbels. Calyx-teeth nearly equal, the 2 upper more or less united. Petals clawed; standard nearly orbicular; wings oblong or obliquely obovate; keel incurved, beaked. Stamens diadelphous (9 and 1); anthers all alike. Pod terete, angled or compressed, curved or straight, jointed. [Diminutive of corona, crown.]

About 25 species, natives of Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Type species: Coronilla valentlna L.

1. Coronilla Varia L. Coronilla. Axseed. Axwort

Fig. 2570

Coronilla varia L. Sp. Pl. 743. 1753.

Perennial, straggling or ascending, glabrous, branching, 1°-2° long. Leaves sessile; leaflets 11-25, oblong or obovate, obtuse and mucronate at the apex, narrowed or rounded at the base, 6"-9" long, I 1/2"-3" wide; peduncles longer than the leaves; flowers 4"-6" long, pinkish-white (standard pink, wings white or purple-tipped), in dense umbels; pedicels 1"-2" long; pod coriaceous, linear, 4-angled, the joints 3"-4" long.

Roadsides and waste places, Massachusetts to southern New York, Maryland and Missouri. Ad-ventive or naturalized from Europe. Hive-vine. June-Aug.