Phaca. LEGUMINOS^. 345 



Mr.Lapham! June-July.— Plant 1-2 foct hi^h, rather slender: stem te- 

 rete, even. Leaflets about tlirce-lourths of an inch long, obtuse, sonietunes 

 ema'rginate, beneath a little grayish with a very minute appressed pubescence. 

 Raceme with 10-20 flowers, nearly the size of those of Astra-^'alus Canadensis, 

 pure Avhite. Le<Tuine3 about I of an inch in length, somewhat flattened pos- 

 teriorly ; the dors'il suture slightly introflexed ; the thickened and spongy ven- 

 tral suture rather deeply, so that the fruit is imperfectly 2-ceiled. Seeds nu- 

 merous, small.— Greatly resembles Astragalus Canadensis m habit and foli- 

 age, with which it has often been confounded. A true Phaca; but the pla- 

 cental suture is introflexed as in Oxytropis. 



11. P. astragaHna (DC): minutely hairy or somewhat glabrous ; sicm 

 short, ascending; leaflets 8-10 pairs, oval, slightly petiolulate, minutely hir- 

 sute with appressed hairs beneath; stipules ovate, toliaceous, nearly free, the 

 lower ones scarious ; peduncles at length longer than the leaves; flow^ers 

 (violet) in a somewhat capitate raceme, spreading; the teeth of the calyx 

 rather acute, almost as long as the tube ; legumes pendulous, elliptical, infla- 

 ted, raised on a short stipe, minutely hirsute (as weU as the calyx, pedicels, 

 &c.) with blackish hairs.— L>C. .' Astrag. p. 52, ^ prodr. 2. p. 274; 

 Richards. ! app. Frankl.journ. ed. 2. p. 28; Hook.! Ji. Bor.-Am. \.p. 144. 

 Astragalus alpinus. Linn. ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 472. A. montanus, Jaccj. Ji. 

 Austr. t. 131. P. Andina, Nuit. ! mss. 



Newfoundland and Labrador to the Rocky Mountains and Kotzebue s 

 Sound, and throughout Arctic America, Drummond ! Riclundson ! 

 Par^ry ! Also near Montreal, Dr. Holmes! and Uuebec, Mrs. Peraval! 

 Alpine summits of the Rocky Mountains, near the contines of perpetual 

 snow (Thornburg's Pass), about lat. 43^, Nuttall ! A native also of the Alps 

 of Europe, and Siberia.— Plant 3-8 inches high : .the stem often wholly 

 subterranean. Flowers 6-12: petals deep violet at the summit.— Mr. TNUt- 

 tall's specimens of P. Andina are in fruit only, and the short stems are 

 wholly subterranean and clothed with the persistent united scale-like sti- 

 pules ; but some of our alpine forms of the European P. astragalina are entire- 

 ly similar. 



12. P.elegans (Hook.): nearly glabrous; stem somewhat branching, 

 erect or assurgent, angled; leaflets 5-7 pairs, oblong, obtuse, cuneate at the 

 base, glabrous above, clothed with minute appressed hairs beneath ; stipules 

 ovate, acute, somewhat connate at the base; raceme compact, elongating in 

 fruit, the peduncles longer than the leaves ; flowers bright and deep purplish 

 blue ; legumes sessile, eUiptical, inflated, membranaceous, apiculate, velvety 

 with black hairs, 3-5-seeded. Hook.Ji. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 144. 



a. minor (Hook. 1. c.) : stem ascending, smaller; raceme shorter. 



Prairies in the Rocky Mountains : /?. on the higher summits, Drummond. 

 —The plant in the plains is 12-18 inches high; the leaflets nearly an inch 

 long, somewhat glaucous beneath ; the blackish legumes f of an inch long, 

 densely hairy. The var. 3. is much smaller, with rounded racemes, more 

 spreading flowers, and approaches P. astragalina; but the flowers are smaller 

 and of a deeper color, and the leafxets are narrower. Hook. 



13. P.cZe6i7is(Nutt.!mss.): " somewhat pubescent ; stem slender, nearly 

 simple, decumbent ; leaves on rather long petioles; leaflets 8-11 pairs, cune- 

 ate-oblong, somewhat truncate or emarginate at the apex, petiolulate, minute- 

 ly hirsute with appressed hairs beneath; stipules triangular-oblong, acuuii- 

 nate, slightly adnate to the base of the petiole ; peduncles longer than the 

 leaves ; flowers (purplish) somewhat capitate; calyx pubescent with grayish 

 hairs, the subulate teeth about the length of the tube; vexiUmn deeply emar- 

 ginate ; legume . . 



"Plains of the Rocky Mountains, near streams.— A slender species, quite 

 smooth below\ Leaflets about one-fourth of an inch in length ; those of the 



44 



