2. Oxytropis Lambertii Pursh. Loco-weed. Fig. 501 A. 



Perennial herb, often forming colonies by short rhizomes; stems several from 

 the crown, very short; herbage all pubescent with hairs attached in the middle 

 and with 2 free ends; petioles short; stipules broad, persistent, 7-24 mm. long; 

 leaves basal, alternate, once-imparipinnately-compound, lower leaves shorter than 

 the upper ones, 4-21 cm. long; leaflets (7 or) 9 to 19, narrowly linear to linear- 

 oblong, 10-35 mm. long, 1-3.5 (-5.5) mm. broad, thick, firm, basally asymmetric; 

 racemes 2-4 cm. thick at full anthesis, terminal on nearly leafless scapes 5-25 cm. 

 long and commonly surpassing the foliage; flowers usually 10 to 25 per raceme, 

 15-26 mm. long; calyx with a tube and 5 lobes, silky-pilose, the tube 6-8 mm. 

 long, the deltoid-subulate teeth 1.2-3 (rarely to 4) mm. long; corolla papiliona- 

 ceous, purple or pink-purple to almost white or various shades of rose or laven- 

 der; banner 18-25 mm. long; wings 15-26 mm. long, commonly much-dilated up- 

 ward; keel 14-19 mm. long, the keel petals apically extending into a sharp erect 

 point; stamens 10, diadelphous, 9 filaments coalescent, the tenth (uppermost) 

 free; pod sessile, stiffly woody, the body ovoid to cylindric or oblong-ovoid, com- 

 monly 7-25 mm. long and exserted, beaked; seeds several. Incl. var. articulata 

 (Greene) Barneby; var. Bigelovii Gray; Astragalus Lambertii (Pursh) Spreng. 

 var. abbreviatus (Greene) Shinners. 



More or less ubiquitous, in wet meadows, calcareous muds, dry open slopes 

 and prairies, represented in our area by one or more described variants, wide- 

 spread in Okla., scattered mainly in cen. and n.w. Tex., through N.M. to Ariz., 

 Apr.-July; also n. to Sask. and Man. 



This species is one of the most dangerous of all the loco-weeds since it is 

 readily eaten by horses, cattle and sheep, especially when grass is scarce, often 

 with fatal effect. 



3. Oxytropis oreophila Gray. Rock-loving oxytrope. 



Perennial with a much-branched cespitose woody caudex, densely silvery-silky 

 pubescent throughout; leaves crowded at the apex of the caudex branches, 1.5-3 

 cm. long; leaflets 5 to 11, lance-elliptic, 4-6 mm. long; scape slender, 2-7 cm. 

 long; racemes short, 1- to 8-flowered; calyx silky-villous, the tube 5 mm. long, the 

 teeth 1.5 mm. long; corolla violet-purple, 10-12 mm. long; pod inflated, ovoid, 

 about 1 cm. long, densely white-villous. 



Rocky alpine ridges and wet slopes and meadows, Ariz. (Coconino Co.), June- 

 July; also Ut., Nev. and Calif. 



4. Oxytropis Parryi Gray. 



Plants 1-10 (-15) cm. tall, acaulescent or nearly so; stipules adnate to the 

 petioles; leaves 3-5 cm. long; leaflets (9 to) 13 to 21, oblong-lanceolate, 3-10 

 mm. long, grayish-silky-strigose; racemes 1- to 5-flowered, short and not elongat- 

 ing in fruit; calyx cinereous-pubescent, some of the hairs black, the tube 3-5 mm. 

 long with teeth 2-3 mm. long; corolla about 1.5 cm. long, purple; fruit erect or 

 spreading, cylindric to oblong, not inflated but coriaceous, black-hairy, 1.5-2.3 

 cm. long, the suture well-intruded. 



Alpine regions in wet meadows, N. M. (Mora Co.), summer; Wyo. and Ida., 

 s. to N. M. and Calif. 



15. Glycyrrhiza L. 



A genus of about 15 species in the temperate and subtropical parts of the 

 world. Licorice of commerce is obtained from the roots of the European G. glabra 

 L. 



1063 



