364 LEOUMINOSAE 



Salt inarslios or sprinjiy spots of canons or by crooks oponinp: to the sea. 5 to 

 100 feet : alonj; the coast line from San Mateo Co. to Humboldt Co. July-Aug. 



Locs. — Tunitaa Crcok, Snn Mateo Co., Jcpaon 415.S; San GroRorio, San Mateo Co., Congdon; 

 B»Iinas Bay, Greene ; Drake's Bay, Jepson GGOm ; Cape Mendocino, Jrpson 2143. 



Var. lanoslssimus Munz & McRnrncy. IlerbaKe silvery-lanate ; calyx-teeth shorter, V^ to 

 % line long. — .\long the coast: Ventura Co. to Orange Co. July-Oct. 



Locs. — Oxnard, W. S. Cooper 178; Ballona, Chandler 2045; Cienega, Los Angeles, Geo. B. 

 Grant 6317. 



Rcfs. — ASTR.\GAi>us PYCNOSTACHYUS Grav, Proc. Am. Acad. 6:527 (1865), type loc. Bolinaa 

 Bay, Bohmder: Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 292 (1901), ed. 2, 236 (1911), Man. 572, fig. 562 (1925). 

 Traejacantha pi/cnostachya Ktze. Rev. Gen. PI. 2:947 (1891). Phaca pycnostachya Rydb. N. 

 Am. Fl. 24:357"(1929). Var. LANOSissiMUS Munz & McBurney, Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 31:66 (1932). 

 Phaca lannsissima Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 24:357 (1929), type Inc. La Bolsa, Orange Co., S. B. ^ TV. F. 

 Parish 1117. ' 



32. A. brauntonii Parish. Granite Loco. Stems erect or reclininp:, 3 to 4 

 feet high; herbaire p:ray-tomentii]ose; leaves 4 to 6 inches long; leaflets 25 to 37, 

 oblong, truncate or obtuse, 3 to G lines long; racemes cylindric, densely flowered, 

 2 to 4l^ inches long, the flowers and fruit reflexed, the peduncles shorter than the 

 leaves; cah-x-teeth subulate, slightly longer than the tube; corolla light purple, 4 

 lines long, the banner prominent; pods sessile, oblong, slightly curved, tomentose, 

 grooved dorsally, incompletely 2-celled (the apical portion without partition), 3 

 to 4 lines long, the lower portion of the style persistent as a beak; seeds 2 or 3 on 

 each side of the partition fold. 



Decomposed granite soil, 300 to 2000 feet : foothills and plains along the coast 

 line of the Santa Monica Mts., Los Angeles Co. May, fr. June. 



Geog. note. — Astragalus brauntonii Parish, which for so long escaped detection or passed 

 as A. pycnostachyus Gray, is a very narrow endemic with the number of individuals extremely 

 few. It is nearly related to and closely simulates A. pycnostachyus Gray in habit and in shape 

 of the spikes and in reflexing of pods. As pointed out by Ernest Braunton, its discoverer, the 

 stems in A. brauntonii tend to be much the same hue as the rest of the plant, whereas in A. 

 pycnostachyus the stems are greenish in contrast to the tomentulose leaves. Furthermore the 

 stipules in A. brauntonii are commonly triangular-acute, in A. pycnostachyus they are flagellate 

 with a triangular base. The entire length of the style is persistent in the former, only the lower 

 half in the latter. Both A. brauntonii and A. pycnostachyus have subulate calyx-teeth as long 

 as the tube, but on the Los Angeles coast, curiously enough, where the variety of A. pycnostachyus 

 occurs in the neighborhood of the related species, its calyx-teeth are triangular-acute and about 

 % as long as the tube. In A. brauntonii the cells of the pod split apart at the apex furnishing 

 an orifice for escape of the seeds during the period before the fruit falls. There is no such device 

 in A. pycnostachjTis. 



Locs. — Cienega, Geo. B. Grant 6317a; Sherman, Braunton 1281; Malibu, Barber. 



Refs. — Astragalus brauntonii Parish, Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 2:26, pi. 1 (1903), type loe. 

 Sherman, Braunton 4" Grant; Jepson, Man. 576 (1925). Brachyphragma brauntonii Rydb. N. 

 Am. Fl. 24:399 (1929). 



33. A. bicristatus Gray. Two-crest Loco. Stems diffusely branched from a 

 suffrutescent base, 12 to 18 inches high; herbage strigulose, the hairs of the inflor- 

 escence commonly black; leaves 2i^ to 3^2 inches long; leaflets 13 to 19, mostly 

 rather remote, linear, obtuse, 3 to 11 lines long; flowers 6 to 9 lines long, rather 

 numerous in loose racemes; calyx-teeth triangular-subulate, % to ^/^ as long as the 

 campanulate tube; corolla yellowish-white, twice as long as calyx, the keel very 

 blunt; pods oblong, strongly obcompressed, prominently 2-keeled, moderately to 

 strongly curved, conspicuously wrinkled or veined, 1-celled, glabrous, 1 to ll^ 

 inches long, recur\'ed on a stipe 4 to 5 lines long; seeds numerous. 



Open desert slopes or canon floors, 5500 to 7300 feet : San Gabriel and San Ber- 

 nardino mountains. June-July. 



Locs. — Cascade Canon, Ontario Peak, Johnston 2039 ; Swartout Valley, Munz 4593 ; Prairie 

 Fork, San Gabriel River, Peirson 2510; San Antonio Mts., Rail 1247; Bear Valley, San Bernar- 

 dino Mts., Parish 3000, Lemmon; Holcomb Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Mum 10,627. 



