57 



THE WESTERN SPECIES OF A R AG ALLUS.— CRITICAL 

 NOTES AND NOVELTIES. 



By Aven Nelson. 



Being located in the very heart of the range of the western 

 members of the genus Aragallus, the writer has had exceptional 

 opportunity for the accumulation of a considerable series of speci- 

 mens of some of the species ; the following notes upon them as to 

 distribution and relative abundance, together with descriptions of 

 some new species, may be, thereforej^of interest to students of this 

 group. 



1. Stipules free; pod 1-celled. 



i^ Aragallus deflexus (Pall.), Heller, Cat. N. A. PI, 4 (1898). 

 Oxytropis deflexa D. C. of most American authors. This species, 

 abundant and widely distributed in western North America, is 

 rarely, if ever, confused with other forms. 



2. Stipules adnate to the petiole ; leaves simply pinnate. 

 * Calyx inflated, sub-globose; pod included. 



Aragallus multiceps (Nutt.), Heller, Cat. N. A. PI. 4 (1898). 

 Oxytropis multiceps Nutt. ; T & G. Fl. N. A. I, 341 (1838). In 

 the specimens at hand the caudex is truly multicipital; perhaps 

 more csespitose than in the original specimens. In all its forms it 

 is a rare plant, occurring usually on stony or gravelly hillsides at 

 middle elevations and not, as usually stated, in the alpine regions 

 of the Rocky Mountains. 



Aragallus multiceps minor (Gray). Oxytropis multiceps 

 minor Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. XX, 2 (1884). The later lists of 

 plants have ignored this variety, but a fair series of specimens of 

 the species shows that the variety as represented by the Hall and 

 Harbour plants, No. 144, may well stand. 



Aragallus collinus. Tufted on the summit of a stout, woody 

 root, the short branches of the multicipital caudex densely clothed 

 with the dead petioles and the silky-villous stipules: scapes several 

 to numerous, canescently appressed-pubescent or at length glabrate, 

 exceeding the leaves, 1-2 dm. high ; leaves and petioles canes- 

 cently sericeous, somewhat crowded on the crowns, |— |- as long 



Ebythea, Vol. VII, No. 6 [1 June, 1899]. 



