LEGUMINOSiE. 29 



21 T. spinulosuin, Bowgh in Hook. Fl. i. 133 (1830) : T. atropur- 

 pureiun, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 318 (1838) under T. heterodon. Perennial, 

 slender, variable as the last as to size : leaflets narrowly oblong, acute at 

 both ends, spinulose-deuticulate, ending in a stiff spinulose cusp ; stipules 

 ovate-acuminate, spinulose-serrate : involucre deeply cleft or even divided : 

 heads subglobose, small (less than 1 in.) : calyx-teeth narrowly siibulate, 

 stiff and pungent, nearly equalling the corolla. — Moist meadows in the 

 Sierra Nevada, from Tuohimne Co., Chesnut & Drew, northward. Perhaps 

 at the far northwest confluent with T. fimhriatum. If so, it will take that 

 name, as of earlier date. But according to Douglas' notes as published 

 by Hooker, the keel and wings, both white, are shorter and more acute 

 than in that. As compared with T. WormskjoJdii, it is equally tall, but 

 always more slender, has different leaflets, smaller flowers in much smaller 

 heads ; and its geographical distribution is entirely different. I have it 

 from southeastern Oregon, Mrs. Austin, and from southwestern Nevada, 

 Shocktey. My own No. 880, of Siskiyou Co., Calif., 1876, distributed as 

 T. paucifloriDii (which is a very slender annual), is a good type of what I 

 here have in view. 



25. T. variegatuiii, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 317 (1838). Annual, glabrous, 

 decumbent or prostrate, with very numerous slender branches : leaflets 

 obcordate to obovate-oblong, minutely spinulose-serrate : upper stipules 

 roundish, lacinately cleft : peduncles slender, longer than the leaves : 

 laciniate involucre, shorter than the small (3 — 15-flowered) heads : calyx- 

 tube about 15-nerved ; the teeth broadly subulate, tapering to a setaceous 

 point, longer than the tube, shorter than the corolla : fl. dull purple or 

 whitish. Var. inelauantlinin. T. melanaathnm, H. & A. Bot. Beech. 331 

 (1840). T. irideaiaiuni, var. melananlhum, Wats. More rigid, ascending, 

 the branches often a foot long or more ; heads larger : calyx-teeth more 

 triangular and only pungently acute or acuminate, of a dark purple 

 almost to the base ; corolla deep purple. Var. major, Loja. Giorn. Bot. 

 XV. 183 (1883). T. trisle, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 318 (1838), under T. spinu- 

 losum. Flaccid and procumbent, but very stout and fistulous, the branches 

 often a yard long ; leaflets oblong-cuneiform, 1 in. long or more ; heads 

 1 in. broad more or less : calyx-teeth dark purple ; petals purple with 

 whitish tips. — The rather delicate, pale-flowered plant which must be the 

 type of this species we have only from the mountains, where it is common 

 along streamlets and in springy places. In the higher Sierra, greatly 

 reduced and often with 1-flowered involucres, it is confused with the very 

 different T. monanlhum. The varieties belong to the interior plains and 

 to the seaboard districts. These are perhaps distinct species ; but the 

 characters on which to separate them do not appear. The var. major, 

 often nearly as large every way as its perennial relative, T. Wormskjoldii 

 — its branches sometimes even longer — is distinguished from that by its 

 annual root and broader leaflets and calyx-teeth. The calyx-tube in all 



