PEA FAMILY 379 



leaves glabrous; leaves li/4 to 2 inches long; leaflets 11 to 15, narrowly eiineate- 

 obovate or -oblong, eraarginate, 2 to 5 lines long; flowers in capitate clusters ter- 

 minating peduncles longer than the leaves; cal^^x commonly black-hairy; calyx- 

 teeth lanceolate-subulate, % to % as long as the campanulate tube; corolla violet 

 or white, 4 to 5 lines long; pods 3 to 7 in a capitate cluster, narrowly linear, atten- 

 uate, compressed, grooved dorsally, almost 2-celled, (1 or) 2 to 2^4 inches long; 

 seeds many. 



• Open grassy slopes, 1500 to 2500 feet : North Coast Ranges from Colusa Co. to 

 Humboldt Co. May-June, fr. July. 



Locs. — Mendocino Co.: Potter Valley, Nettie Purpus; Mt. Sanhedrin, Purpus 1070; Williams 

 Creek, n. of Bound Valley, Cronemiller 640. Humboldt Co.: Alder Pt., Eel Eiver, Tracy 1903; 

 Buck Mt., Tracy 4241; Bridgeville, BlanMnsMp; Kneeland Prairie, Tracy 7486; Jarnigan's, 

 Chesnut Sr Drew. 



The pods of Astragalus rattanii are long (usually 2 to 2^ inches) and straight, but often 

 they are curved. On the east slope of the inner Coast Eange occurs a form with somewhat shorter 

 pods (1 to ly^ inches long) : Salt Gulch, Greasewood Hills, w. Tehama Co., Jepson 13,756; Black 

 Butte, Colusa Co., Rattan; betw. Mountain Home and Epperson sta., w. Colusa Co., K. Brandegee. 



Var. clarianus Jepson comb. n. Pods drawn down to a stipe-like base 2 to 3 lines long, atten- 

 uate at apex. — Conn Valley, Napa Eange. 



Eefs. — Astragalus rattanii Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 19:75 (1883), based on spms. from 

 prairies n. of Mad Eiver, Humboldt Co., and from Eattlesnake Creek, Mendocino Co., Battan; 

 Jepson, Man. 578, fig. 571 (1925). Hamosa rattanii Eydb. Bull. Torr. Club 54:324 (1927). Var. 

 cttARlANUS Jepson. A. clarianus Jepson, Man. 578, fig. 570 (1925), type loc. near St. Helena, 

 Napa Eange, Clara A. Hunt. Hamosa clariana Eydb. N. Am. PI. 24:427 (1929). 



69. A. nuttallianus DC. Texas Loco. Stems several from the base, diffuse 

 or prostrate, 3 to 10 inches long; herbage pubescent with stiffish white appressed 

 hairs; leaves in a basal tuft and scattered along the branches, ^ to 1^/4 inches long; 

 leaflets 9 to 13, linear to oblong, acute at base and apex, 2i/2 to 3 lines long; racemes 

 capitate, the peduncles slender, exceeding the leaves; flowers 2 to 21/2 lines long; 

 calyx-teeth narrow, about as long as the tube; corolla whitish or blue, the keel with 

 obtuse or acute inflexed or upturned tip; pods nearly or quite 2-celled, linear, 

 somewhat curved, compressed, deeply grooved dorsally, strigulose, 7 to 9 lines long; 

 seeds 14 to 16. 



Sandy mesas and alkaline flats, 1100 to 4000 feet: Laguna and San Jacinto 

 mountains; eastern Mohave Desert; Inyo Co. East to Texas and Arkansas. Apr,- 

 May. 



Field note. — Astragalus nuttallianus DC, only a few times collected in California, is in its 

 habit very much like a Lotus. The apex of the keel of the corolla is very variable, in its acute 

 form designated as var. acutirostris Jepson, 



Locs. — Laguna and San Jacinto ranges: Sentenac Canon, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 12,458; 

 San Jacinto Lake, Hall 434 (leaves sharply acute) ; Murray Canon, Palm Sprs., Mt. San Jacinto, 

 Peirson 584. Eastern Mohave Desert: Goffs, Newlon 540; Barnwell, K. Brandegee. Inyo Co.: 

 Hanaupah Caiion, Pauamint Eange, Jepson 7065. 



Var acutirostris Jepson comb. n. Corolla-keel prolonged at apex into a beak. — Sandy val- 

 leys, 1000 to 4000 feet: western Colorado Desert; Mohave Desert; Inyo Co. Apr.-May (fl. and 

 fr.). This form is like the species in every detail of habit, stems, leaves, inflorescence, flowers and 

 fruit, save only that the corolla is often beaked. Since there are transition forms to the species 

 in even this particular of the beak, A. acutirostris Wats, has no specific value and probably little 

 varietally. Nor is it segregated geographically. 



Locs. — Jacumba, T. Brandegee ; Indian Canon, Collins Valley, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 

 8851a; betw. Stoddard Well and Ord Mt., Jepson 5916; Amargo, Mohave Desert, Jepson 15,575; 

 Lone Pine, Inyo Co., T. Brandegee. 



Eefs. — Astragalus nuttallianus DC. Prod. 2:289 (1825); Jepson, Man. 579 (1925). 

 A. micranthus Nutt. Jour. Acad. Phila. 2:122 (1821), type loc. plains of the Eed Eiver, Nuttall; 

 not A. micranthus Desv. (1814). Hamosa nuttalliana'Rjdb.; Small, Fl. Se. U. S. ed. 2, 617 (1913). 

 A. streptopus Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 1:155 (1885), type loc. Mohave Desert, Curran. Hamosa 

 emoryana Eydb. Bull. Torr. Club 54:327 (1929), type loc. El Paso, Texas, Wright 1359. Traga- 

 cantha micrantha Ktze. Eev. Gen. PI. 2:941 (1891). A. sp. Vasey & Eose, Contrib. U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. 1 :15 (1893), type loc. Cedros Isl., L. Cal., Vasey 4" Rose. A. cedrosensis Vasey & Eose, I.e., 

 as synonym. A. nuttallianus yar. cedrosensis Jones, B^v.l>i. Am.. Astrag. 270 (1923). A. pertenuis 



