PEA FAMILY 587 



high. Leaves 4-6 cm. long; leaflets 15-21, linear-oblong, 9-14 mm. long; peduncles shorter or 

 about equaling the leaves ; racemes lax, few-flowered ; calyx white-strigose, the teeth lanceolate- 

 subulate, 2 mm. long ; corolla purple, 5-6 mm. long ; pod sessile, obliquely ovoid, abruptly nar- 

 rowed at the apex to a conical beak, 15-20 mm. long, 10 mm. wide, purple-tinged, strigose. 



Sandy washes and flats, Lower Sonoran Zone; Colorado Desert, southern California. Type locality: Blythe 

 Junction, Riverside County, California. Feb.-April. 



63. Astragalus sabulonum A. Gray. Sand Rattle-weed. Fig. 2837. 



Astragalus sabulonum A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 13: 368. 1878. 

 Astragalus virgineus Sheldon ex Coville, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 4: 88. 1893. 

 Phaca sabulonum Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 40: 47. 1913. 

 Phaca arenicola Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 24: 356. 1929. 



Annual or short-lived perennial, densely white-silky, branches several from the crown of a 

 slender taproot, decumbent at base or ascending, 1-3 dm. long. Leaflets 9-13, oblong to obovate, 

 5-12 mm. long, 3-5 mm. wide ; peduncles 2-5 cm. long ; racemes 2-3 cm. long, few-flowered ; calyx 

 white-silky, the tube 2-2.5 mm. long, the teeth lanceolate-subulate, slightly exceeding the tube; 

 corolla 6 mm. long, creamy white, often tinged or veined with purple, the keel strongly arcuate, 

 obtuse; pod sessile, spreading or deflexed, white-villous, lanceolate in outline, 10-12 mm. long, 

 4-5 mm. wide and about as thick, lower suture strongly curved, the upper straight or nearly 

 so and acute. 



Light soils, Lower Sonora Zone; southern Nevada to the Colorado Desert, southern California, Lower Cali- 

 fornia and Sonora. Type locality: southeastern Nevada, "near the confluence of Muddy River with Rio Virgen." 

 Jan.-June. 



64. Astragalus Vaseyi S. Wats. Vasey's Locoweed. Fig. 2838. 



Astragalus Vaseyi S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 370. 1882. 

 Phaca Vaseyi Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 24: 354. 1929. 



Perennial with a slightly woody base, the branches rather slender, erect or ascending, 2-8 

 dm. high, herbage silvery-canescent throughout with a closely appressed strigose pubescence. 

 Leaves 5—10 cm. long; leaflets 13-17, elliptic, apiculate, rarely over 10 mm. long; fruiting pe- 

 duncles 10-15 cm. long; flowers subsessile, spicate, calyx campanulate, the tube 3 mm. long, the 

 teeth subulate, half the length of the tube ; corolla white or yellowish, 7-8 mm. long, strongly 

 arched shortly beyond the calyx ; pods spreading, about 10-12 mm. long and 5 mm. wide, acute, 

 firm, strigose, usually recurved. 



Desert slopes, Lower Sonoran Zone; San Jacinto Mountains, southern California, to northern Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Type locality: Mountain Springs, San Diego County, California. March-May. 



Astragalus Vaseyi var. metanus (M. E. Jones) Munz & McBurney, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 31: 66. 1932. 

 Calyx black-hairy, flowers purple; pod strongly' flattened at the tip. San Diego County, California, to northern 

 Lower California. 



Astragalus Vaseyi var. Johnstdnii Munz & McBurney, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 31 : 66. 1932. {Phaca Deanei 

 Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 24: 355. 1929; Astragalus Vaseyi var. Deanei Jepson, Fl. Calif. 2: 350. 1936.) More 

 glabrous than the species; calyx-teeth 1-2 mm. long, pod scarcely flattened at the tip. Little San Bernardino 

 Mountains to central San Diego County, California. 



65. Astragalus Pulsiferae A. Gray. Pulsifer's Locoweed. Fig. 2839. 



Astragalus Pulsiferae A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 10: 69. 1874. 



Astragalus Suksdorfii Howell, Erythea 1: 111. 1893. 



Phaca Suksdorfii Piper, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 11 : 369. 1906. 



Perennial from a woody root, branches several to many from the crown, slender, prostrate, 

 more or less hoary with a soft spreading villous pubescence. Leaves 2-3.5 cm. long; leaflets 

 mostly 7-9, obovate to broadly oblanceolate, 5-10 mm. long; peduncles slender, 2-3 cm. long, 

 mostly few- flowered ; calyx-tube 1 mm. long, exceeded by the lax subulate teeth ; corolla white 

 in the banner tinged with purple, 6-7 mm. long, the banner strongly arched; pod 10—12 mm. long, 

 obliquely ovoid, papery and villous, the ventral suture arched at both ends, tipped by a flat up- 

 curved beak. 



Gravelly soils, Transition and Canadian Zones; Cascade Mountains and Sierra Nevada from Falcon Valley, 

 Washington, to Placer County, California. Type locality: Sierra and Plumas Counties, California. Named in 

 honor of the discoverer, Mrs. Pulsifer Ames. May-July. 



66. Astragalus pycnostachyus A. Gray. Marsh Locoweed. Fig. 2840. 



Astragalus pycnostachyus A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 6 : 527. 1864. 

 Phaca pycnostachyus Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 24: 357. 1929. 



Perennial, the stems stout, erect, 6-10 dm. high, canescent throughout, with a soft lanate 

 pubescence. Leaves 5-8 cm. long; leaflets crowded, 23-35, narrowly oblong-elliptic, 7-15 mm. 

 long ; peduncles about equaling the leaves ; flowers numerous in dense spikes ; calyx campanulate, 

 about 6 mm. long, the teeth subulate, scarcely half the length of the tube ; corolla sordid white 

 or the wings yellowish, 10-12 mm. long; pod ovoid, 7-9 mm. long, 4 mm. wide, beaked by the 

 persistent style, nearly glabrous to more or less canescent. 



Coastal marshes, Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones; Humboldt County to San Mateo County, California. 

 Type locality : Bolinas Bay. April-Oct. 



Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus (Rydb.) Munz & McBurney, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 31 : 66. 

 1932. (Phaca lanosissima Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 24: 357. 1929.) Plant hoary with a dense lanate pubescence. 

 Marshes near the coast, Los Angeles County, California. 



