Tephrosia
(from tephros, ash-coloured; alluding to the colour of the leaves). North American Hoary Pea. Including Requienia. ORD. Leguminosae. A large genus (about ninety species) of stove, greenhouse, or half-hardy herbs, sub-shrubs, or rarely shrubs, broadly dispersed over the warmer regions of the globe. Flowers red, purple, or white, in leaf-opposed racemes, or solitary or in pairs in the axils; calyx tube campanulate, the teeth distinct, sub-equal; petals clawed; standard sub-orbicular; keel incurved, not beaked; stamens diadelphous. Pods flattened, two-valved. Leaves usually odd-pinnate; leaflets opposite, often silky beneath. Several of the species are economically valuable, but few of them are very ornamental. A selection from those introduced is here given. All thrive in a compost of sandy peat and leaf mould. Propagation may be readily effected by seeds; or by cuttings, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, those of the stove species in heat. T. candida (whitish). fl. reddish or white, 3/4in. to 1in. long; standard densely silky; racemes copious, terminal and lateral, elongated, 6in. to 9in. long. July. l. shortly petiolate, 6in. to 9in. long; leaflets nineteen to twenty-five, ligulate, acute, 1 1/2in. to 2in. long. India, 1816. A low, stove shrub.
T. capensis (Cape).* fl. purple, 1/4in. long, the standard pubescent; racemes interrupted, attenuated, distantly many-flowered; peduncles elongated, slender. July. l. rather long-petiolate; leaflets three to six pairs, elliptic, cuneate-oblong, or lanceolate, obtuse or acute. Stems procumbent or trailing, 2ft. to 3ft. long. South Africa, 1825. Greenhouse sub-shrub. T. grandiflora (large-flowered). fl. red, fulvescent on the outside, eight to ten lines long; peduncles terminal and leaf-opposed, fasciculate-corymbose at summit. June. l. shortly petiolate; leaflets five or seven pairs, cuneate or linear-oblong, obtuse or acute, retuse or mucronulate. h. 1ft. to 2ft. South Africa, 1774. An erect, greenhouse shrub. (B. R. 769, under name of Galega grandiflora.) T. pallens (pale). fl. pink, four to five lines long, the standard pubescent, the other petals glabrous; racemes dense, many-flowered; peduncles curved, 4in. to 6in. long. July. l. shortly petiolate, very spreading or recurved; leaflets five to nine pairs, narrow, cuneate-oblong, 3/4in. long, recurved-pointed. South Africa, 1787. An erect or ascending, greenhouse sub-shrub.
T. purpurea (purple). fl. pale red, 1/4in. to 3/8in. long, silky; racemes copious, elongated, all leaf-opposed, 3in. to 6in. long, loose, the lower flowers fascicled. July. l. shortly petiolate, 3in. to 6in. long; leaflets thirteen to twenty-one, narrow-oblanceolate, obtuse, glabrescent above, obtusely silky beneath. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Throughout the tropics, 1768. Stove perennial.
T. suberosa (slightly bitten). fl. pink; vexillum with a very short, callous claw, broadly oval; peduncles terminal and axillary, racemose, shorter than the leaves. July. l. shortly petiolate, 4in. to 6in. long; leaflets 1in. to 1 1/2in. long, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, very pale, silky-canescent. h. 4ft. South Africa, 1818. Greenhouse shrub.
T. virginiana (Virginian).* fl. yellowish-white, marked with purple, large and numerous, clustered in a terminal, oblong, dense raceme or panicle. June and July. l., leaflets seventeen to twenty-nine, linear-oblong. Stem erect and simple, 1ft. to 2ft. high, leafy to the top. North America, 1765. Half-hardy perennial.