OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : MAY 30, 1865. 525 



Astragalus cyrtoides, Gray, Rev. Astrag., p. 201 ; forma magis 

 pubescens; foliolis sajpius obovatis vel obcordatis, cum fructu; — nempe, 

 legumine cartilagineo dorso haud intruso prorsus uniloculari sublineari 

 utrinque acutato tereti e stipite pendente caljcem longe superante sur- 

 sum curvato hami- vel falciformi nunc demura annular!, sutui'is margi- 

 nantibus angustis, ventrali acutissiraa. — Nevada, near Carson City, 

 Dr. C. L. Anderson, who collected flowering specimens in 1863, and 

 mature fruit in 1864, which enables me now to complete the account of 

 this species. The fruit will be seen to accord with the Podo-schrocarpi, 

 but the habit and structure of the flowers show the nearest afiinity with 

 A. racetnosus, Pursh, with which the species was associated in my 

 revision of our Astragali. The legume is an inch or more in length, 

 on a stipe nearly half an inch long ; it is of a very firm cartilaginous 

 texture, tomentulose, curved in the form of a pruning-hook or 

 sickle, or at length even into a complete ring, the nerviform replum 

 in old pods separable, that on the ventral side forming a narrow acute 

 marjiin or edsre. 



Astragalus tener, Gray, 1. c, p. 206 : forma foliis fere linearibus 

 raro emarginatis ; floribus la?te violaceis. — Oakland, coll. Wm. Hol- 

 der. Immature legumes more or less reflexed, half an inch long, lan- 

 ceolate-linear, silky-puberulent, on a very short stipe which is hidden 

 in the tube of the calyx, several-seeded, 2-locellate,i the transverse 

 section obcordate, the partition reaching to the venti-al suture. 



Astragalus ineptus: (Oroboidei?) cinereo-pubescens; cauHbus 

 e radice perenni diffusis ramosis (spithamteis et ultra) ; stipulis scario- 

 sis discretis ; foliolis 6-9-jugis oblongis emarginatis supra fere glabris ; 

 racemis oblongis densifloris brevi-pedunculatis folio brevioribus; corolla 

 alba vel ochroleuca apice pupurascente, ala rectiuscula ; legumine im- 

 maturo ovato acuminato subincurvo puberulo membranaceo inflate haud 

 stipitato polyspermo septo intruso fere bilocellato. — Dry, rocky moun- 

 tain near Sonora Pass, alt. 9,000 feet. — A low, homely species, of 

 which mature fruit is still a desideratum. The root apparently peren- 

 nial. Leaflets 4 to 6 lines long, slightly fleshy, grayish underneath 

 with a fine lax pubescence. Flowers half an inch long, on very short 

 pedicels, narrow, the tips of the naiTow wings and sometimes of the 

 short keel tinged with purple. One or two forming legumes occur ; 

 they are scarcely above half an inch in length, thin-walled, and evi- 

 dently inflated at maturity, moderately grooved at the dorsal suture, 



VOL. VI. 59 



