LEGUMINOSiE. 6 



1. Y. ^is-autea, Hook. Fl. i. 157 (1S30). Stout, 5—10 ft. high : leaflets 

 10 — 13 pairs, liuear-obloug, obtuse, miicroniilate, 1 — 2 in. long ; stipules 

 1 in., semisagittate, toothed at base : peduncles much shorter than the 

 leaves ; the dense raceme 1-sided, 5 — 18-flowered ; fl. dull red : pod 

 glaucous, black when ripe. — Common along streams, climbing over 

 shrubs and small trees. Seeds as large as small peas and said to be a 

 fair substitute for them when young. May, June. 



2. V. Americana, Muhl. in Willd. Sp. iii. 1096 (1801). Weak, 2—5 ft. 



high, climbing by branched tendrils, nearly glabrous : leaflets 8 — 12, 

 thin-membranaceous, vivid green above, paler beneath, closely but deli- 

 cately feather-veined, elliptic-lanceolate, entire, obtuse, mucronulate, 1 

 in. long : peduncles shorter than the leaves, 3 — 8 flowered : fl. ^-^ in. 

 long, bright purple : upper calyx-teeth very short, lower well elongated : 

 pods 1 in. long, glabrous. Var. truucata, Brewer : V. tnmcala, Nutt. in 

 T. & G. Fl. i. 270 (1838). Lower and stouter than the type ; leaves linear 

 to oblong-linear, usually dentate or even serrate toward the truncate 

 apex : fl. larger and paler. — The type of this species occurs in the upper 

 part of the Sacramento valley among the foothills of the Sierra, extending 

 thence northward to the British boundary and eastward across the conti- 

 nent. The variety is also somewhat rare, and not known except from 

 San Benito and Contra Costa counties ; but there is plenty of it among 

 the Mt. Diablo hills back of Antioch, Byron, etc. The following has 

 been confused with this. 



3. V. linearis, Greene. Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 276 (1838), under 

 LatJiyrus : V. Americana var. linearis, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 134 

 (1876). Low, decumbent or diffuse, or taller and climbing by branched 

 tendrils : leaflets 6 — 10, subcoriaceous, glaucescent, the few veins promi- 

 nent, confluent along the margin of the linear entire mucronate leaflet : 

 peduncles equalling or exceeding the leaves, few-flowered : fl. 1 in. long, 

 violet-purple : pods shorter than in the last. — Common throughout 

 middle and southern California, but in the Coast Range only. Very 

 common also in the Eocky Mountain region, where broad-leaved smaller- 

 flowered forms prevail ; but in all these variations most easily dis- 

 tinguished from ['. Americana by the color, texture, and venation of the 

 leaflets. 



4. V. Californica. Erect or decumbent, 6—12 in. high, villous- 

 pubescent, scarcely climbing, the tendrils short, stiffish and not branch- 

 ing : leaflets 8—12, subcoriaceous, delicately feather-veined, cuneate- 

 obovate, truncate or refuse, 5—7 lines long, more or less dentate toward 

 the mucronulate apex : racemes exceeding the leaves, 3 — 5-flowered : 

 calyx-teeth all broad and short : corolla % — i^ in. long, deep purple. — In 

 Calaveras Co., collected by the author in June, 1889. The plant cannot 



