224 Sarcocarpi. 
in most herbarium specimens, but still globose when maturing nat- 
urally, herbarium material is greatly and coarsely wrinkled mostly, 
about 2.5 em. long and 1.5 em. wide, sulcate at: both sutures when 
fresh and very shortly mucronate-beaked, green to reddish. Flow- 
ers normally bluish-purple but often nearly white, with elongated 
banner and wings, rather loosely racemose-spicate, about horizontal. 
Banner ovate to oblong-ovate, nearly 1.5 cm. long, deeply notched, 
with sides very much reflexed so that it seems almost linear, abruptly 
arched at end of calyx tube to 45^. Wings elongated, about 1 em. 
long and 3 mm. wide, slightly ascending, very oblique at the notched 
tip, narrower above, mostly white, much longer than keel. Keel 
straight, about 5 mm. long, the tip abruptly arched to erect and 3 
mm. high, very broad, the corner about square, purple. Calyx black- 
ish with rather sparse and very short and closely appressed hairs, 
the teeth very variable but mostly 2-4 mm. long and triangular. 
Bracts twice the rather long pedicels in flower and about as long in 
fruit. Peduncles from much shorter than, to as long as the leaves. 
Spikes 5-10 em. long and rather close. Leaves 1-1.5 dm. long when 
fully developed above, the lower ones much reduced, ashy to smooth. 
Leaflets 8-12 pairs, narrowly to broadly elliptical, the lowest often 
oval, 1-1.5 cm. long. Stipules ovate. Stems about a foot long, 
weak and widely spreading. Pubescence ashy to almost none, espe- 
cially on the stems and pods, of short and flat appressed hairs. Com- 
mon on sweet soil on the prairies from northern Texas to the base 
of the Rockies and northward to the Saskatchewan, not on the 
Snake river drainage, but on the Laramie Plains, and on the Pacific 
slope along the tablelands of the head waters of the Missoula in 
Deer Lodge Valley, eastward to eastern Iowa and Minnesota, Middle 
Temperate life zone, and descending a little into the Lower Tem- 
perate at the south. In early days the fruit was eaten by voyagers 
and called Pomme du Prairie. When the fruit matures naturally 
it becomes very cellular between the inner and outer skins and very 
light and is easily blown about by the winds. It does not open at 
maturity but gradually falls apart by decay. Its cellular character 
is like that of A. pygmzeus and Musiniensis of the Navajo Basin. - 
Astragalus crassicarpus var. pachycarpus,(T. & G.) Jones Cont. 
8 17 (1898). A. pachycarpus T. & G. Fl. 1 332 (1838). This is a 
southern form with pods round to oblong or ovate, decidedly obeom- 
pressed. Flowers narrower and slender, whitish, about 1.5 em. long. 
Calyx smooth or nearly so. Bracts subulate and smaller. Pedicels 
slender. Peduncles much shorter than the leaves. Leaves very nar- 
row. Leaflets 11-16 pairs, rather long-petiolulate often’ oblanceo- 
late, about 1 em. long. Stipules rather short and narrow. Stems 
slender, 1-2 ft. long. Nearly smooth throughout. This is the form . 
mostly of Missouri to Texas. The pods vary greatly- from decidedly 
oblique with the mucro above the middle to plum-shaped. 
197. Astragalus Mexicanus A. DC. Pl. Rar. Gen. 4 16 t 3 
(1826). A. trichocalyx Nutt. Geoprumnon Rydberg. Pods about 
as in A. crassicarpus. Flowers cream-white. Calyx white and woolly 
with long hairs, almost sessile and with long bracts, teeth very short. 
Banner about 1 cm. long, ovate, with sides reflexed below and seem- 
ingly triangular. Wings almost straight, a little longer than the 
keel, oblique. Keel as in A. crassicarpus. Flowers very short-spi- 
cate, the clusters rarely 5 em. long. Leaves as in A. crassicarpus 
but nearly smooth. Peduncles often as long as the leaves, not 
short. Plants 1-2 ft. high, rather stout. Missouri to Texas and 
southern Nebraska, on prairies eastward to Illinois. Lower Tem- 
nta QU zone. ; 
