Black Prairie Clover

Parosela laxa Rydberg, sp. nov
A shrub, perhaps 1 m. high; branches glabrous, straw-colored, terete, ascending; leaves 1.5-2 cm. long, spreading; stipules minute, subulate; rachis slightly margined, on the upper side glandular : punctate; stipels gland-like, acute; leaflets more or less cuneate, 4-5 mm. long, slightly retuse, glabrous, glandular-dotted beneath; peduncels terminating the branches,
1 cm. long; spikes slender and lax, 2-4 cm. long; bracts ovate, glabrous, conspicuously glandular-dotted, early deciduous; calyx glabrous, except the ciliolate margin; tube 3 mm. long, strongly 10-ribbed, with a row of oblong, yellow glands in each interval; teeth broadly triangular, with a short subulate tip, 0.5 mm. long and very broad, the sinuses between them rounded; corolla rose-purple or with a yellowish banner; blade of the banner cordate, 4 mm. long, the claw 3 mm. long; wings and keel-petals inserted near the middle of the staminal tube, the blades of the wings 5 mm. long, those of the keel 5 mm. long.
Tvpe collected in the vicinity of Devils River, Texas, October 16, 1913. Rose &• Fitch 17957 (herb. N. Y. Bot. Gard.). Distribution: Texas.

Parosela frutescens (A. Gray) Vail; Rose, Contr. U. S Nat. Herb. 8: 303. 1905.
Dalea frutescens A. Gray, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. 6: 175. 1850.
A shrub, 3-10 dm. high; branches striate, glabrous, very sparingly glandular-punctate; leaves spreading, 1-2.5 cm. long; stipules setaceous-subulate, 2 mm. long; petiole 5 mm. long; rachis glabrous, slightly margined; leaflets 13-17, glaucousverdigris, glabrous, minutely glandular-punctate beneath, obovate, retuse, 3-8 mm. long; peduncles terminating the branches, 1-5 cm. long, glabrous; spikes at first subcapitate, dense, about I cm. long; bracts ovate, acute, conspicuously glandular-punctate ; calyx-tube turbinate, 3 mm. long, with conspicuous orange glands between the 10 strong ribs; lobes triangular, with short subulate tips, villous-ciliate on the margins; corolla purple; blade of the banner cordate, nearly 5 mm. long, the claw 3 mm. long; blades of the other petals 6 mm. long, the claws 1.5 mm. long; pod broadly obliquely obovate, glabrous, conspicuously glandular-punctate.
Type locality: On the Guadalupe, Texas.
Distribution: Texas and New Mexico to Chihuahua and Nuevo Le6n.