433 
than half the tube. Bracts thin as in the other species, 5-7 mm. long. 
Peduncles 1-2 dm. long. Leaves narrow and somewhat tapering, gen- 
erally as long as peduncle or more, petioles rather shorter than the ra- 
chis. “Leaflets otten 20 pairs, about oval-ovate, mostly acutish, hardly 
contiguous, seldom 1 em. long, with densely and mostly yellow-felted 
pubescence, nearly sessile. Stems from hardly any to short and spread- 
ing on the ground. Rare in southern Arizona and New Mexico, and 
rather common from Chihuahua and Durango Mexico and southward, 
.mostiy Tropical on dry benches and slopes, blooming in April and 
;May. This is little more than a well-marked variety of A. Bigelovii, 
191 Astragalus mollissimus Torr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. 2 178 (1828). 
«Pods linear-obiong, about 2 cm. long, 5 mm. wide and 3 mm. high, 
` 
- irom a little arcuate to curved into a half circle, rugulose, inclined. to 
‚Le narrowed at the boss-like base, triangular-acute, with the flat beak 
notor rarely oblique (as in A. Humboidtii/, about 2-celled nearly to 
the tip, inclined to be velvety-pubescent when young but smooth with 
age, not inflated. Flowers purple, about 2 cm. long, spicate. Banner 
about oval, 1 cm. long, arched rather abruptly at end oi calyx-tube to 
30-45 degrees and then straight, with sides reflexed about 2 mm. wide 
in the middle, white spot filling the blade to within 2 mm. of the sides 
and purple around the upper end. Wings broadly linear, about 2 min, 
wide, white at tip, a little arcuate, about 2 mm. longer than keel and 
often nearly as long as the banner. Keel with straight base, about 5 
" mm. iong and then abruptly erect and 3 mm. high, very obtuse and 
rounded, purple-tinged or striped. Calyx tube 5-7 mm. long, 3-4 mm, 
wide, about as in A. Bigelovii, a little wider below and truncate and 
inserted, on the lower and fleshy corner, loosely long-shaggy, with the 
súbulate teeth about half as iong as tube. Bracts reaching the middle 
of calyx. Pedicels very short. Peduncles 1-3 dm. long, subscapose, 
stout, mostly about as long as the leaves. Leaves not conspicuously 
acuminate, with petioles not over half the whole. Leaflets 10-15 pairs 
from nearly ovate and acute to broadly elliptical and obtsue, 1-2 cm. 
long, variably silky-hairy with long hairs which are a little felted and 
generally yellowish. Stems straggling upward, with few nodes, rare- 
ly 1 dm long. with short internodes. Crowns inclined to be woody, 
This differs from A Humboldtii in the shaggy calyx and smooth pods 
and from A. Bigelovii in the smooth pods not inflated and in the short 
and narrower bracts aid more acute leaflets which also are normally 
larger, Northern Colorado at Windsor and eastward to Nebraska and 
southward to Texas and westward to Flagstaff Arizona; not in the 
Navajo Basin. common on the Plains in gravel. Lower Temperate 
life zone. This is the "Loco" a stock poison, affecting the motor 
nerves and the vision. Being the first green thing out in the sprin 
stock get to eating it and soon are poisoned so that they stagger en 
become emaciated and finally crazy, when taken away from it they 
appear to recover but never are reliable again. A. lentiginosus and: 
; Pattersoni have the same effect. It is probable that most of the spa- 
cies are poisonous but do not come out till there is plenty oí forage. 
Stock will not eat it if there is anything else to eat. 
192 Astragalus giganteus Watson Proc. Am. Acad. 17 370 (1882), 
Pods oval-ovate, conspicuously inflated, from a little oblique to decid- 
edly obcompressed, about 1 cm. long, 7 mm. wide and 3-5 mm. high, — 
strongly cross-wrinkled, slightly sulcate dorsally and with sutures 
very convex, truncate and strongly attached to calyx, strongly mucro- 
nate at tip with the flattish and deltoid beak several times wider than 
long, ventral suture deeply depressed forming a groeve from base to 
two thirds of the way up then strongly humped and recurved to form 
the rather declined but nearly symmetrical beak, the pods suggest very 
Pong those of A. Canadensis var. Carolinianus. Flowers yellow- 
ish, inclined to be reflexed, 1.5-3 cm. long, narrow. Banrer about 
ovate, with sides reflexed a little below, arcuate 32 45 degrees at eud 
