Tab. 7622, 

 ASTRAGALUS ponticus'. 



Native of Asia Minor. 



Nat. Or J. Leguminos.e. — Tribe Galege.*. 

 Genus Astragalus, Linn.; (Benth. & Uooh.f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 506.) 



Astragalus (Alopecias) ponticus; herba erecta, 2-3-pedalis, perennis, caule 

 robusto simplici tereti glabro v. villoso, foliis alternis pedalibus patenti- 

 decurvis brevissime petiolatis, rhachi gracile glabra v. pnbescente, foliolis 

 15-25-jugis pollicaribus sub-sessilibus ovato-oblougis obtusis supra glabris 

 subtus pilosis pubescentibusve, stipulis liberis triangulari-lanceolatis 

 pollicaribus fuscis, capitulis magnis axillaribus sub-sessilibus v. breviter 

 pedunculatis, oblongo-globosis multi-densifloris, floribns pollicaribus 

 breviter pedicellatis primulinis, bracteis lanceolatis calycis lubo oblongo 

 brevioribus, calycis hirsuti dentibus triangulari-ovatis lanceolatis ve tnbo 

 triplo v. quadruplo brevioribus, vexillo oblongo retuso alis longe unguicu- 

 latis paullo longiore, legumine parvo calyce incluso ovato compresso 

 hirto 2-loculari oligospermo, seminibns parvis subreniformibus. 



A. pontious, Pallas, Sp. Astrag. Descrip. p. 14, t. xi. DC. Prodr. vol. ii. 

 p. 295. Ledeb. Fl. Boss. vol. i. p. 635. Boiss. Fl. Orient, vol. ii. p. 408. 

 Bunge, Gen. Astrag. Geront. p. 95. 



A. polycephalus, Tenore, Sort. Neap, ev Bunge I. c. 



The genus Astragalus is one of the very largest in the 

 Vegetable Kingdom, upwards of fifty genera have been 

 carved out of it, to be subsequently merged in it. Accord- 

 ing to the " Index Kewensis " it contains upwards of 

 1600 species, a number which will no doubt be considerably 

 augmented when the Floras of China and Tibet are better 

 known. Of all these species scarcely a dozen have been 

 figured in any work devoted to garden plants, and of those 

 that have been, almost all are confined to the plates of 

 this Magazine. JNow that rock-gardening is being pursued, 

 no doubt many will be brought into cultivation, for not a 

 few are remarkable for beauty of foliage and flowers. 



A. ponticus belongs to a section of the genus which 

 inhabits South Europe and Western and Central Asia. 

 It is found over a wide tract of country in Europe and 

 W. Asia, its western limits being Bulgaria and Podolia, and 

 Bessarabia in Southern Russia. In Asia Minor it extends 

 from Armenia to Kurdistan and thence to Mt. Elwend in 

 Western Persia. One of its nearest allies is A. narbonnemis, 

 November 1st, 1898. 



