o 
223 
North Park Colorado to Panguitch lake Utah and Pioche Nevada and 
westward to the Sierras and northward to the tim of the Great Basin. 
It grows throughout the Middle Temperate life zone and far down in- 
to the Lower. It reaches an alt. of 9000 ft. In the mountains it pre- 
fers rocky ridges, and in the valleys grows in the brush on gravelly 
slopes but not in the shade. It is one of the earliest bloomers, coming | 
out along with A. Newberryi. a month earlier than A-Utanensis. ` OC- 
casionally the flowers are tinged with pink or purple, but the !eaflets 
are not obovate. A. consectus Sheldon is an intergrade between this 
and the variety longilobus, with obovate leaflets. + 
J Astragalus Purshii var longilobus Jones Cont. 5 269 (1893). This 
is a form with the brilliant pink-purple flowers of A. inflexus but the 
calyx teeth very variable. Stems matted-acaulescent. Calyx some- 
what inflated. Peduncies rather stout and! longer than the leaves. 
Pubescence loosely long-woolly and: not matted. Leaflets hardly 1 
em. long, oblong-obovate, acute or obtuse, abont 5 pairs, contiguous. 
Leaves rarely 7 cm. long. Pods those of the type and densely long- 
shaggy with hairs 3-4 mm. long. Bracts elongated. Intergrading 
forms occur with shorter calyx teeth, white flowers, and the narrow 
leaves of Purshii. This is the most common form from the Charleston 
mountains Nevada to the San Bernardinos and Owen's valley of Cali- 
fornia and Hawthorne Nevada. It is readily mistaken for A. inilexus 
but is stemless and with the long peduncles and the very shaggy pods 
of A. Purshii and with its short keel. 
Astragalus Purshii var. leucolobus Jones Cont. 5 270 (1893) and 
10 61 (1902). This is a much branched and short-stemmed form with 
the internodes barely as long as the stipules. Peduncles longer than 
the leaves. Bracts and calyx teeth as in A. Utahensis, relatively short. 
Calyx inflated, broad!y-oblong, and with the teeth hardly 1 cm. long, 
truncate below and inserted on the lower corner, Joosely long-wooily 
asin A. inflexus. Flowers purple, stubby, hardly 1.5 em. long, blades 
nearly equal. Leaves 3-7 cm. long. Leaflets about 6 pairs, oval to 
obovate, rounded, rarely acutish, mostly hardly 5 mm. long, though 
sometimes 1 cm. long and obovate. Pods oblong, conspicuously fal- 
cate, with short and felted wool hardly | mm. long, about 1.5 cm. long, 
with a long and subulate beak from an abruptly contracted base. This 
appears very distinct but it intergrades with the above. Itis the pre- 
vailing form on the western side of the Sierras and San Bernardinos. 
Lower Temperate life zone. 
Astragalus Purshii var. tinctus Jones Cont. 5 269 (1893). This is 
a form with loosely branched but densely caespitose and slender stems 
sometimes a foot long but the season's growth rarely 1 dm long, the 
internodes rarely as iong as the stipules and white-woolly. Pedun- 
cles about as long as the leaves. Flowers about 2 cm. long, purple. 
about as in A. Utahensis'but with the keel of Purshii. Pods broadly 
ovate to broadly oblong, a little arched, 1-1.5 cm. long, a little sulcate 
ventrally, densely long-woolly as in A. Utahensis. Leaves rarely 1 
dm.long. Leaflets about 4 (3-6) pairs, oblong-obovate and apiculate, 
"about 1 em. long. Calyx teeth normally subulate and half as long as 
the tube and the subulate bracts ] cm. long, but teeth twice as short. 
This intergrades with the vars. longilobus and lectulus. It is the 
common form of the northern Sierras on both sides in the Middle 
Temperate life zone and running up a little into the Upper, among 
rocks and gravel in open places. Most common at Soda Spring near 
Summit Nevada Co. Cal. and Carson City Nevada, a form intergrad- 
ing with this and A. Purshii grows at Tehachapi. This variety extends 
northward at least to Goose lake. : 
Astragalus Purshii var. lectulus (Watson) Jones Cont. 1061 (1902) 
A. lectulus Watson Proc. Am. Acad. 22 471 (1887). This is the most 
reduced and remarkable form with the straggling stems of the var. 
tinctus, and white-woolly but still more slender and forming loose 
