PEA FAMILY 353 



Phaca vestita Benth. (1844) clearly antedates Astragalus vestitus Boiss. & Heldr., Diagnoses 

 Plantarum Orientalum Novarum, ser. 1, 9:98, dated 1849. 



11. A. preussii Gray. Nevada Loco. Stems several or many from the root- 

 crown, ascending, 7 to 15 inches high; herbage glabrous or essentially so; leaves 

 21/2 to 3^2 inches long; leaflets 11 to 15, orbicular to narrowly elliptic, obtuse or 

 retuse, often cuneatish at base, 4 to 7 lines long; raceme 31/2 inches long, the flowers 

 very remote; peduncles 3 to 4 inches long; flowers 11 lines long; calyx-teeth lance- 

 olate, % to 1/4 as long as the tube ; corolla purple ; pods inflated, subcylindric, acute 

 at base and apex, glabrous, 1-celled, 7 to 11 lines long, 3 to 4I/2 lines wide, borne on 

 stipes 114 to 2 lines long. 



Sandy soil, 2000 to 4500 feet: western Nevada; southeast to Arizona, east to 

 Utah. Apr.-May. 



Locs. — Ash Mdws., Nev., Purpus 6042; Las Vegas, Nev., T. 4" -S". Brandegee ; Lees Ferry, 

 Ariz., Jones; San Eafael Swell, Utah, Jones. 



Var. laxiflorus Gray. Leaflets glabrous; flowers 5 to 5% lines long; pods glabrous, narrow, 

 sessile. — Antelope Valley, w. Mohave Desert, Davidson. East to northern Arizona. 



Var. limatus Jepson. Sand Loco. Robust plant of bushy outline, 1 to 2 feet high ; herbage 

 subglabrous or sparsely strigose, the upper surface of the leaves glabrous or glabrate; leaves 2^ 

 to 5 inches long ; leaflets obovate to oblong, obtuse or retuse at apex, 4 to 13 lines long ; racemes 

 3 to 15-flowered, rather loose, 1 to 2^2 inches long, on peduncles shorter or longer (in fruit) than 

 the leaves; flowers 9 to 10 lines long; calyx-teeth triangular-lanceolate, about % or ^ as long 

 as the tube; pods oblong-cylindric or oblong-ovate to elliptic or elliptic-ovate, chartaceous-in- 

 flated, obscurely puberulent or glabrate, reticulate-veined, many-seeded, subsessile or barely stipi- 

 tate, % to IVt inches long, 5 to 6 lines wide. — Sandy flats, 10 to 1500 feet: Colorado Desert. 

 Apr. (fl. and fr.). 



Tax. note. — In general aspect, size of flowers and shape of pods the type spm. of var. limatus 

 (Univ. Minn. Herb.) is very similar to the type spm. of the species (N. Y. Bot. Gard. Herb.). 

 The two differ chiefly in that A. preussii has a stipe about as long as the calyx, while in the var. 

 limatus the stipe is very short or almost none. 



Locs. — This variety is very common on the Colorado Desert about Kane Sprs. (Jepson 

 12,544) and over the plain to Oasis road station (Jepson 11,710), as well as in the Borrego Valley 

 (Jepson 8888). We cite also: betw. Indio and Westmoreland, Newlon 415; Travertine Terraces, 

 Salton Sea, Parish 8425; San Felipe Creek, T. Brandegee ; Split Mt., T. Brandegee; Brawley, 

 W. S. Childs; Imperial, Davy 8021; Calexico, Davy 7990. The above spms. correspond well with 

 the type spm. 



Refs. — Astragalus preussii Gray, Proc. Am. Aead. 6:222 (1864), type loc. "Rio Virgen", s. 

 Nev., Fremont. Tragacantha preussii Ktze. Rev. Gen, PI, 2:947 (1891). Phaca preussii Rydb. 

 Bull. Torr. Club 40:47 (1913), Rydbergiella preiLSsii Rydb. Fl. Rocky Mts. 501 (1917). Var. 

 liAxiFLORUS Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 13:369 (1878), type loc. Beaverdam on the Virgin River, 

 Ariz., Palmer. A. preussii var. laxispicatus Sheld. Minn. Bot. Stud. 1:130 (1894), a renaming of 

 last. Phaca laxiflora Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 24:363 (1929). Phaca davidsonii Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 

 24:362 (1929), type loc. Lancaster, Los Angeles Co., Davidson 4. Var. limatus Jepson, Man. 

 566, fig. 555 (1925.) A. limatus Sheld. Minn. Bot. Stud. 1:126 (1894), type loc. Indian Wells, 

 Colorado Desert, Orcutt. 



12. A. pulsiferae Gray. Ground Loco. (Fig. 208.) Stems slender, pros- 

 trate, branching, 2 to 8 inches long, arising from the branched crown of a slender 

 taproot; herbage (including mature pods) whitish- villous ; leaves ^ to 1% inches 

 long, the 9 to 11 leaflets crowded; leaflets narrow-obovate, mostly retuse, II/2 to 4 

 lines long; racemes 1 to 7-flowered, 3 to 6 lines long, on peduncles 2 to 6 lines long; 

 flowers 2 to 2^ lines long; pedicels in fruit often 2 to 4 lines long; calyx-teeth 

 linear-filiform, longer than the tube; corolla white, purplish-tinged, 2 lines long; 

 pods ovate-inflated, 1-celled, 4 to 6 lines long, 3 to 4 lines wide, 3 to 8-seeded. 



Gravelly valley flats, 3500 to 4500 feet : northern Sierra Nevada from Plumas 

 Co. to Modoc Co. East to Nevada. July. 



Locs.— Sierra Valley; Genesee Valley, Plumas Co., B. M. Austin 34; Pine Creek, Lassen Co., 

 BaJcer ^ Nutting; Chat, Lassen Co., Davy. 



Refs. — Astragalus pulsiferae Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 10:69 (1874), type loc. Plumas Co., 

 Mary E. Pulsifer Ames; Jepson, Man. 567 (1925). Tragacantha pulsiferae Ktze. Rev. Gen. Pi. 

 2:947 (1891). Phaca pulsiferae Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 24:357 (1929). 



