FABACEAE. 203 



1. A. californica Nutt. 1-3 m. high, puberulent, the nascent 

 parts villous-pubescent; leaflets 11-15, elliptic-oblong, obtuse, 2 cm. 

 long; spikes slender, 5-15 cm. long; calyx-teeth acute, broadly 

 triangular. 



Occasional in the upper chaparral belt in all the mountains. 



11. ASTRAGALUS L. Rattle- weed or Loco- weed. 



Annual or perennial herbs or sometimes woody at 

 base, with unequally pinnate leaves, persistent stipules, 

 and rather small flowers arranged in axillary spikes or 

 racemes. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals with narrow blade 

 and slender claw; keel obtuse. Stamens diadelphous. 

 Stigma terminal, minute. Pod various, coriaceous and 

 turgid, or thin and bladdery-inflated, 1-celled or becom- 

 ing 2-celled by intrusion of one or both sutures. Seeds 

 few to many, small, on slender funiculi. 



Annuals, 



Pods 4-5 mm. long, wrinkled, 2-seeded. 



Pods not deflexed. 1. A. didymocarpus. 



Pods strongly deflexed. 2, A. nigrescens. 



Pods 15 mm. long, 5-10-seeded. 3. A. strigosus. 



Perennials. 



Pods bladdery inflated. 



Pods stipitate. 4. A . leucopsis. 



Pods sessile. 5. A. parishii. 



Pods not bladdery inflated. 



Pods on stipes half their length, in loose 



racemes. 6. A. antiselli. 



Pods sessile, in dense spikes. 



Pods 1-celled; flowers greenish yel- 

 low. 7. A. pycnostachys. 

 Pods 2-celled; flowers light purple. 8. A. hrauntoni. 



1. A. didymocarpus H. & A. Slender, 3 dm. high, pubescent 

 with fine, somewhat scattered hairs; leaflets 9-15, cuneate-oblong 

 to linear, emarginate, 6-10 mm. long; spikes long-peduncled, dense, 

 ovate or oblong, 2-3 cm. long; flowers 3-5 mm. long, dull purplish; 

 pods erect, 4 mm. long, and about as broad, scarcely exserted from 

 the calyx, strongly wrinkled, 2-celled, 2-seeded. 



Frequent on the plains and on grassy slopes of the foothills, 

 mostly in the interior region. 



2. A. nigrescens Nutt. Stems very slender, 1-2 dm. high, 

 slightly pubescent; leaflets as in the last; spikes less dense, cylindric, 

 2 cm. long; pods deflexed, well exserted from the calyx, slightly 

 wrinkled, strongly obcompressed; closely related to the last, but 

 easily distinguished by fruit. 



Not known within our limits, but it has been reported from 

 Newhall and Catalina Island. March-May. 



