S46 LEGUMINOS^. Phaca. 



lowest leaves much smaller and glabrous. Flowers (nearly as large as in P. 

 astragalina) in close 10-15-flowered heads, which at length elongate into 

 short spikes, pale purple." NiitiaU. — This may perhaps be P. elegans (i. 

 minor of Hooker ; but that species is said to have the flowers considerably 

 smaller than those of P. astragalina, and of a far deeper color. The fruit is 

 unknown. 



11. P . Ahoriginoriim {'H.ooV.') : softly canescently pubescent ; stem erect, 

 somewhat branched, striate ; leaves mostly sessile ; leaflets about 5 pairs, ob- 

 long-lanceolate or linear, rather obtuse, sessile; stipules ovate, membrana- 

 ceous, the lowermost united, rather large; peduncles twice the length of the 

 leaves; racemes oblong, 15-20- flowered (flowers white tinged with blue); 

 legumes glabrous, obliquely elliptical, inflated, membranaceous, acuie, raised 

 on a slender stipe about twice the length of the calyx. — Hook. ! fi. Bor.-Am. 

 I. f). 143, t. 66. Astragalus Aboriginorura, Richards.! app. FrankLjourn. 

 ed. 2. p. 28. 



Lake Winnipeg to the Rocky Mountains, and north to Bear Lake in lat. 

 66^, Richardson! Z>r?(m?);o?ifZ .'—Root long, yellowish, similar to that of 

 Glycyrrhiza, from which rise numerous almost simple stems, a foot high, 

 lieaflets about an inch long, often alternate, rarely somewhat verticillate, vil- 

 lous-canescent with a close very soft white pubescence. Racemes rather 

 loose; the pedicels ascending or a little spreading, recurved in fruit. Calyx 

 and pedicels hirsute with blackish or brownish hairs. Legumes caneseent 

 when young, at length glabrous ; straight along the upper suture, which is 

 slightly introflexed, curved along the dorsal suture, pointed. " The Crees and 

 Stone Indians gather its roots in the spring as an article of food." Rich- 

 ardson. 



15. P. glabriuscula (Hook.) : glabrous or slightly hairy ; stem erect, near- 

 ly simple, striate ; leaflets 5-6 pairs, linear-lanceolate, rather acute ; stipules 

 ovate, acute, the lowermost connate, rather large ; legumes (not mature) on 

 a rather long stipe, lanceolate-falcate, compressed, membranaceous, glabrous. 

 Hook. ft. Bor.-Aw. 1. p. 144. 



Vallies of the Rocky Mountains, Drummond. — "General aspect very simi- 

 lar to the preceding, of which perhaps it may be a variety ; but it is almost 

 entirely glabrous, smaUer, the fruit more falcate,"&c. Hook. 



16. P. Douglasii: very slightly hairy: stem (erect?) flexuous, angled 

 and striate; leaflets 10-13 pairs, narrowly elliptical or linear-obloncr, obtuse, 

 slightly petiolulate, beneath (especially the midrib and margins) minutely 

 hairy; stipules very small, triangular ; peduncles about as long as the leaves ; 

 racemes few-(6-10-) and loosely-flowered ; calyx campanulate, the teeth 

 acute and shorter than the tube; legumes (immature) sessile, ovate, pointed, 

 membranaceous, inflated, the upper suture a little introflexed. 



California, Douglas ! — Upper leaves sessile. Leaflets rather thick and 

 rigid, J-| of an inch long, about 2 lines broad. Flowers about as large as in 

 P. Aboriginorum, white? Calyx minutely hirsute Avith whitish hairs. Le- 

 gume (young) about an inch in length, puberulent with appressed hairs.— We 

 have not seen the full-grown fruit. 



17. P. iongifolia (Nutt. mss.) : canescently puberulent ; stem erect, slen- 

 der, branching; lower petioles short, pinnately 3-5-foliolate, Avith narrowly 

 linear leaflets ; the upper ones elongated and filiform, mostly leafless; stipules 

 lanceolate-subulate, the lowermost united, the upper ones distinct; racemes 

 on filiform peduncles shorter than the petioles, 7-1 0-flowered ; legumesmfm- 

 branaceous and much inflated (large, spotted), ovate-globose, stipitate, gla- 

 brous.— Psoralea longifolia, Pitrsh ! ft. 2. p. 741; DC. prodr. 2. p. 220. 

 Orobus longifolius, Nuit. gen. 2. p. 95. O.? longifolius, DC. 1. c. p. 4S0; 

 Torr. ! in ann. lye. New- York, 2. p. ISO. 



