152 Preussii, 
PREUSSII. 9. 
Pods thin-eoriaceous to cartilaginous, fleshy except in 
some Preussii forms, inflated, 2-5 e:... long, 1-2 em. high or 
or wide, apiculate or shortly beaked, elliptical to round or 
oblate in eross section, both sutures inclined to be produced 
within but never 2-celled, in Preussii dorsal suture a mere line 
within, pod mostly stipitate, never deeply suleate, erect or 
ascending, rarely reflexed in sabulosus, on very stout pedicels, 
smooth or very minutely and sparsely puberulent when young, 
obscurely eross-lined, or faintly reticulated, opening nearly 
to the middle from the tip along both sutures. Flowers large, 
2-3 em. long, widely spreading to reflexed. Petals rather long 
and long-clawed. Banner arched 45 to 90 degrees near the 
tip of keel or beyond calyx teeth, oblong-ovate, about 1-1.5 
em. long, with sides much reflexed. Wings narrow, 2-4 mm. 
longer than keel, obtuse, somewhat arched. Keel base straight, 
tip mostly gently arched to erect or a little more, rounded, near- 
ly always purple, 3-4 mm. high. Calyx laterally flattened, 
5-10 mm. long, about 3 mm. high, cylindrical or not eam- 
panulate, teeth mostly short and broad. Braets hyaline, tri- 
angular, not longer than the pedicel which is 2-4 mm. long. 
Peduncles rigid, stout, erect, tapering, coarsely grooved, 
mostly as long as leaves. Upper leaves 1-2 dm. long except in 
asclepiadoides, short-petioled, with rigid and tapering ra- 
chis, spreading. Leaflets thick and leathery, flat, smooth or 
never more than puberulent, large, distant, gradually smaller 
above on rachis. Stipules small for the plant, deltoid, green, 
reflexed, about 4 mm. (rarely 8 mm.) long. Stems except 
in forms of Preussii thick and stout, 1-3 ft. high. Mostly 
coarse and tufted perennials little branched, growing in salty 
or alkaline or very poor clay soil on flats or the equivalent. 
Pubescence -of minute, wide, flat hairs closely appressed and 
narrowed below and tapering above and attached at or very 
near the end, mostly absent altogether. This group shows 
the same remarkable variation in the pods as in A. gracil- 
entus, and like it is inclined to have the ventral suture pro- 
duced a little within, but it lacks the soft and flabby leaves 
and minutely woolly pubescence and peculiar roughness of 
leaf surface, and the whole plant has a peeuliar leathery 
suceulenee, and rigidity, and. never grows in sweet soil. 
Plants blooming in summer. Lower Temperate life zone. 
rarely in the edge of the Tropical. 
