358 LEQUMINOSAE 



Breuer 1878; typo spin. (Grav Herb.) in flowor only, rhaca incpta Rvdli. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 

 1:246 (1900)." Ciistium incptum Kydb. Bull. TorV. Club 32:659 (1905). Var. sierrae Jones, 

 Rev. N. Am. Astrag. 124 (1923), type loc. Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Jones, ace. to label 

 on type spm. (Baker Herb.). Var. semotus Jepson. 



20. A. kernensis Jepson. Kern Loco. Stems many, slender, 3 to 4 inches 

 ]ii<rli, from the woody crown of a stout root; herbage strigose-pubescent with stif- 

 tish hairs, the upper surface of the leaflets merely bordered by strigose hairs; stip- 

 ules scarious, distinct; leaves 1 to 2 inches long; leaflets about 13, obovate, obtuse or 

 retuse, lYo to 2l^ lines long; racemes short, rather closely 4 to 6-flowered, the 

 whitish flowers 4i/o lines long; calyx-teeth subulate, about half the length of the 

 narrow-campanulate tube; banner notched, its sides turned abruptly back; wings 

 involute-tubular, shorter than banner, turning bluish; keel shorter than wings; 

 pods globose, membranous-inflated, abruptly beaked with the stout persistent style, 

 more or less grooved along both sutures, sparsely hirsutulose, 3 lines long, 2-celled; 

 seeds about 4. 



High montane, 8000 to 8500 feet : "Whitney plateau, east side of the upper Kern 

 River. July (fl. and fr.). 



Locs. — Monache Mdws., Furpus 1871; Natural Bridge, Volcano Creek, Sail 4" Bdbcock 5432. 



Refs. — Astragalus kernensis Jepson, Man. 569 (1925), type loc. Volcano Creek, Tulare 

 Co., Jepson 4930. Cystium kernense Rydb. N. Am. Tl. 24:413 (1929). 



21. A. bolanderi Gray. Sierra Loco. Stems many, erect or decumbent, from 

 the branched crown of a lieavy woody root, 9 to 12 inches high; herbage pubescent; 

 stipules scarious, the lower united on the side of the stem opposite the leaf; leaves 

 3 to 6 inches long; leaflets 9 to 23, linear to narrowly oblong; peduncles not exceed- 

 ing the leaves, bearing a short crowded 6 to 12-flowered raceme; flowers 5 to 7 lines 

 long; calyx-teeth slender-subulate, a little shorter than the tube; corolla straw- 

 color, or purplish-tinged ; pods narrowly ovate-inflated, incurved, coriaceous, gla- 

 brous, veiny, 7 to 10 lines long, on a stipe equaling or slightly exceeding the calyx, 

 more or less grooved along both sutures, 2-celled save that the apical I/3 is parti- 

 tionless; seeds 12 or 14. 



Gravelly or sandy flats or openly wooded slopes, 5200 to 9000 (or 10,800) feet : 

 Sierra Nevada from Tulare Co. to Nevada Co. June-July. 



Field note. — Astragalus bolanderi Gray is a frequent species of the Sierra Nevada at middle 

 and higher altitudes, forming great colonies in opens or flats in the Western White Fir (Abies 

 concolor) forest. On these sandy spots it is frequently associated with Eriogonum nudum. The 

 flowers are ascending in a dense short spike. After fertilization the flowers spread horizontally 

 and the spike appears quite loose, the fruit soon growing rapidly. The banner of the corolla is 

 narrow, slightly cleft at apex and turned backward ; the wings are strictly erect in the line of the 

 calyx, revolute from the upper edge or sometimes tending to coil from the tip, the two slightly 

 divergent. 



Locs. — Sand Mdw., South Fork Kaweali River, Jepson 4673 ; Farewell Gap, Jepson 1005 ; 

 Alta Peak, Kaweah River, Hopping 64 ; Mt. Silliman, Jepson 724 ; Line Creek, Huntington Lake, 

 Jepson 12,996; Crescent Lake, Mariposa Co., Congdon; Peregoy Mdw., Mariposa Co., Jepson 

 4341 ; Mt. Ralston, Eldorado Co., Helen Gets 19 ; Bowman Lakes, Nevada Co., A. M. Carpenter. 



Refs. — Astragalus bolanderi Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 7:337 (1868), type loc. Ostrander 

 Ranch, above Yosemite, Bolander ; Jepson, Man. 568, fig. 557 (1925). A. supervacaneus Greene, 

 Erythea 1:221 (1893), type loc. mts. of Fresno Co., Nutting. Tragacantha bolanderi Ktze. Rev. 

 Gen. PI. 2:943 (1891). Hesperonix bolanderi Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 24:440 (1929). 



22. A. platjrtropis Gray. Alpine Loco. Peduncles and leaves tufted on the 

 branched root-crown, 1 to 3 inches high; herbage silvery-pubescent; leaves Y^ to 2 

 inches long; leaflets 7 to 13, obovate or oblong, l^/^j to 3 lines long; racemes capitate, 

 5 or 6-flowered, on slender scape-like peduncles, the peduncles about equaling the 

 leaves; flowers 3 to 4 lines long; calyx-teeth subulate, nearly as long as the tube; 

 corolla yellowish- white with purplish keel, 3^/2 to 4I/2 lines long; pods turgid-ovate, 

 very short-pointed, scantily strigulose, sometimes purplish-mottled, 2-celled except 

 at the apex, 1 inch long. 



