221 
from the base to the middle, much obcompressed till the cross-sec- 
‚tion is nearly that of the figure oco, flattened dorsally to broadly sul- 
cate in the middle, with sutures not intruded, abruptiy rounded (rarely 
acuminate) at base and with a boss-like pseudo-stipe at the junction 
„with calyx, coriaceous when dry and finely corrugated, when fresh 
, the wall is 1 mm. thick with the inner part woody only, pubescence of 
pods from rather sparse and rarely 1 mm. long but spreading to dense 
and shaggy and woolly and 4 mm. long, tip of pod conspicuously flat- 
tened and prow-like and deltoid to triangular-acuminate and longer 
than wide, mostly green-edged, conspicuously different from those of 
A. Utahensis, short-spicate. Flowers brilliant-pink-purple, about 2 
cm. long, in loose heads and becoming short-spicate in fruit. Banner 
. oval-ovate, a little over 1 cm. long, with sides reflexed about 3 mm. 
_ wide below the middle, abruptly arched just beyond the calyx tips to 
45 degrees and then straight to the tip, inclined to appear fiddle-like 
by the sides being reflexed at tip, with groove deep and large and 2 
mm. wide and 1 mm. deep at keel-tip and then vanishing above, white- 
spot fan-shaped and filling the groove and coming within 2 mm. of tip 
and purple-veined. Wings linear, entire, concave to keel and with tip 
horizontal and with the concave side up, straight, deep-purple, about 
3 min. longer than keel.and 4 mm. shorter than banner. Keel about 5 
. mm. long and 3 mm. high, arcuate sharply from near the base to fully 
. erect at the rounded tip. Calyx tube about 1 cm. long, 4-5 mm. wide. 
not appearing inflated, cleft a little deeper above and with base a littie 
nirrowed and inserted on the lower corner at the fleshy end, reddish 
and thin, sparsely short-woolly, teeth 3-6 mm. long, often half as long 
as the calyx and from subulate from a deltoid base to filiforin-tipped. 
Bracts equally variable and from about as long as the teeth to I cm. 
long. Peduncles stout and about 5-7 cm. long. Leaves narrow, 7-10 
cm. long, the petioles rarely over twice as long as the lowest leaflet. 
Leaflets about 10 pairs, mostly contiguous, broadly to narrowly ellip- 
tical. acutish at both ends, rarely rounded at tip and somewhat obo- 
vate, about 1 cm. long when fully developed, softly silky-woolly with 
mostly rather long hairs. Stipules elongated, triangular-subulate. 
; Ste ns zigzag, the internodes in the best developed forms being 1-3 
em. long and making the stems 1-2 ft. long, mostly prostrate. Stipules 
not imbricated. This species prefers sandy places on southern slopes 
dn the Middle and Lower Temperate life zones in the Columbia Basin. 
It runs up the Missoula at least to Missoula Mont. and seems to pass 
over the Continental Divide to Helena though ınost of the higher alti- 
tude forms are the variety. It seems also to reach the Great Basin on 
the eastern side of the Sierras in northern Nevada. The type does not 
. see n to reach above the great bend of the Snake river at Huntington 
though puzzling intergrades do. It blooms in early summer. 
Astragalus inflexus var. glareosus (Douzlas) Jones Cont. 10 62 
(19)2). A.glareosus Douglas in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 152 (1834). 
This is a form with pods inclined to be hooked at tip, with slender pe- 
duncles often 1 dm. long but sometimes very short, with stems so 
short that the stipules overlap or are closely imbricated, the many 
leaves with leaflets nearly linear to narrowly elliptical and ‚very acute 
at both ends and rather distant and mostly sparsely long-silkv-woolly 
but the plants still with a greenish look. Throughout the Columbia | 
drainage but most common along the Snake river to the Yellowstone 
‚Park, Middle Temperate life zone mostly. This blooms in Apri! and 
May and grows in the sagebrush on well drained slopes and in open 
valleye but not in alkaline ground. The form described by Nelson as 
A. nudisiliquus had old pods where decay had loosened the hairs on the 
.pods which had separated from the skin leaving the pods smooth. It 
often occurs late in the season in A. Purse. Utahensis and desperatus 
This undoubtedly hybridizes with A. Purshii forming Astragalus 
B -x-glareosus, which has more hairy pods amd lighter colored | 
