PEA FAMILY 325 



approximate, narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, acute, 2 to 7 lines long; umbels 1 

 or 2-flowered, sessile; flowers 3 to 4 lines long; calyx-teeth narrowly linear, i/4 to 

 y2 as long as the tube; corolla yellow, the claws of the petals exserted; pods slender, 

 moderately attenuate, a little straightened or strongly curved, pubescent, brown 

 when mature, deflexed, much exceeding the calyx, 4 to 6 lines long; seeds 2 to 

 several. 



Dry sandy soil of flats or slopes in the foothills and mountains, 1000 to 7500 

 feet : Monterey and San Benito Cos. to the San Gabriel and San Bernardino moun- 

 tains; east to Inyo Co. Apr. -July. 



Locs. — Chalone Creek, San Benito Co., Hall 9963 ; Mission San Antonio, Monterey Co., Jep- 

 son 1666; Templeton, San Luis Obispo Co., Barber; Griffins, Mt. Alamo, Elmer 3988; Mt. Pinos, 

 Eall 6494, 6536; Tejon Pass, Eall 6264; Frazier Mt., n. Ventura Co., Hall 6603; Brook Glen, 

 Tehachapi Peak, Dudley 324a; Manzana, Antelope Valley, Davy 2502; Cajon Pass, Parish, Peir- 

 son 101; Argus Mts., Inyo Co., Purpus 5465; Independence, Alice Rhine. 



Var. jepsonil Ottley. Umbels 1 or 2-flowered; flowers 4^/4 to 6 lines long; calyx-teeth 1% 

 lines long, more than half the length of the tube ; claws of the petals scarcely exserted. — Gravelly 

 ridges, 6000 to 6300 feet : southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare and Kern Cos. July. 



Locs. — Trout Mdws., Purpus 1856 ; Greenhorn Mts., Purpus 5533. 



Eefs. — Lotus leucophyllus Greene, Pitt. 2:149 (1890); Jepson, Man. 554 (1925). Eo- 

 sackia sericea Benth. Trans. Linn. Soc. 17:367 (1837), type from Cal., Douglas; not Lotus 

 sericeus Moench (1802). Syrmatium sericeum Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 2:147 (1886). Eosackia 

 procumhens Greene, I.e. 1:82 (1885), type loc. Tehachapi, Kern Co., Curran. Syrmatium pro- 

 cumbens Greene, I.e. 2:148. L. procumbens Greene, Pitt. 2:149 (1890). Var. jepsonii Ottley, 

 Univ. Cal. Publ. Bot. 10:227 (1923), type loc. Kern Eiver near Little Kern Lake, Jepson 4921; 

 Jepson, Man. I.e. 



23. L. argophyllus Greene. Silver Lotus. Stems several to many from the 

 woody base, slender, decumbent, 2 to 6 feet long; herbage silvery-tomentose, the 

 tomentum denser and more silky on the leaves and calyces; leaves 2l^ to 7I/2 lines 

 long; leaflets 3 to 5, roundish-obovate, 2 to 5 lines long; umbels 3 to 8-flowered, 

 nearly sessile, 4 to 7 lines wide; bract of 1 leaflet, commonly present; flowers 4 to 5 

 lines long; pedicels short, hidden by the pubescence; calyx-teeth obscured by the 

 pubescence, about half the length of the tube; corolla yellow, the banner aging 

 brown or purple; ovary with 2 to 4 ovules; pods silky, slightly longer than the 

 calyx, nearly straight, attenuately beaked, mostly clearly keeled, 1 (or 2) -seeded, 

 the body 2 to 2^ lines long, the beak ^ to as long; seeds curved-oblong. 



Foothills and plains, 1100 to 3500 feet : Monterey and Fresno Cos. to Southern 

 California. Mar.-July. 



Locs. — South Coast Eanges: Big Sur Eiver, Monterey Co., Davy 7429; San Antonio trail 

 summit, Santa Lucia Mts., Jepson 1654. Southern Sierra Nevada: Toll House, Fresno Co.; 

 Switch-back, Kaweah Eiver, W. Fry 323 ; Erskine Creek, Kern Co., Purpus 5052. S. Cal. : San 

 Bernardino Mts., Parish; Deep Canon, Santa Eosa Mts., Clary 1184; betw. Thomas Valley and 

 Vandeventer ranch, San Jacinto Mts., Jepson 1331; Mesa Grande, San Diego Co., E. Ferguson 

 77; Cuyamaca Lake, Peirson 5977; Mountain Sprs. grade summit, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 

 11,822;' Witch Creek, Alderson ; San Diego, M. F. Spencer 89. 



Var. decorus Ottley. Herbage glistening satiny-canescent throughout or only at tips of the 

 branches; peduncles 1 to 4 lines long; umbels 3 to 5-flowered; pedicels more evident than in the 

 species. — Foothills and mountains, 3000 to 7000 feet: San Gabriel Mts.; San Bernardino Mts. 

 Apr.-July. 



Locs.— Little Tujunga Wash, San Gabriel Mts., Ottley 565 ; Mt. Wilson, Peirson 95 ; San 

 Bernardino Mts., Parish; San Bernardino Valley, Parish 4389. 



Var. fremontii Ottley. Leaves 5 to 8 lines long, slightly longer than in the species; leaflets 

 broadly oblanceolate or obovate to elliptical, acute, 2 to 7 lines long; umbels very dense, 7 to 9 

 lines broad, confined to the ends of the branches ; calyx-teeth as long as the tube ; blade of banner 

 shorter than its claw. — Canon sides, 1500 to 4000 feet: Sierra Nevada from Placer Co. to Mari- 

 posa Co. Occasional. May-July. 



Locs. — Colfax, Jones; Cape Horn, Placer Co., F. M. Essig ; Sweetwater Creek, Eldorado Co., 

 C. Simpson; Yosemite Valley, Chesnut 4r Drew. 



Var. niveus Ottley. Stems woody and stocky, characterized by short internodes; herbage 

 white-silky; leaflets acute, 5 to 9 lines long; calyx -teeth as long as the tube, extending beyond 

 the corolla. — Santa Cruz and San Clemente islands. 



