CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY NO. 16 



ter abundantly a few miles west of Wickenburg, Arizona, on ridges 

 nil (Vniciimn and Prosopis, and Cereus giganteus. The fruits of 

 itha are in dense panicles. 



ragalus Wootoni Sheldon. Minn. Bot. Stud. 9 138. I have always 

 Lch amused at Wooton's attempts to keep up his species. I have from 

 iart of his type labeled in his own handwriting, and the specimen is 

 inereus, and accords with Sheldon's description where he speaks of 

 -ennial. It is likely that Wooton has distributed forms of A. playa- 

 es as this species, but his type is A. subcinereus. 

 page 367 of Wooton and Standley's Flora of New Mexico, in com- 

 er, Astragalus Gil te that my description of the 

 :'ols not accord with Grctnc's and with specimens of theirs. As to 

 lo not know, but I hive in mv herbarium a part of Greene's type, 



his d.\ ti< t of \ ' 1 <~ u<< ' is Jones Rydberg says that m> 

 f the type is faulty. This figi r s ci il >m the type in my 



m, :v.:i\ theiefore can hardlv be f;;ul:v. I have always been inclined 

 r , \ u ,. ih,i- i* • f . ..<. . fn r il • fashion of A. grallator Wat- 

 A. ! n alinus lr nes. So far no one knows whether it is or not. But 

 to make di Portions now and then that are evidently freaks. I do not 

 A. hynlinus is a freak of A. triphyllus, but I do know that A. gral- 

 i freak of A. Haj he a freak of A - 



erg has Ins last say on this genus. I confess to a general state of 

 of mind in trying to get order out of this chaos. Rydberg seems 

 perennial peeve at any species of Astragalus I have ever described, 



. | -tit i 



" 





species, the simple question is "la it Good?" 



ot see any sense in holding a grudge against those who do not agree 

 ' jV v "j . I have to mine. The 



i:e<tion "is as to the soundness of their judgment in each particular 

 ate the work of every man, and we 

 t the verv be^t of all our botanists have blundered continually. The 

 ho does not blunder does not exist. So why should we feel a personal 

 when a person shows up our mistakes. In Contributions No. 13 

 m k. the f a 1 mi^t ike of roasting the work of the person who wrote 

 ual. I did not know at that time 

 rote it ( and I did not care), and I do not now. It was a poor piece of 

 It turns out that Fernald wrote it, and so I earned his e\ 

 for daring to criticise it. Well, he has been lying lor me ever since, 

 last he found a small defect in a key of mine, and reversing the old 

 idage of "montes partruient, nascitur ridiculus mus, he makes a mons 

 a mus, and he is welcome to it. But to me it is babyish. Rydberg 

 : himself in an impossible position by assuming that no genus should 

 iore than half a dozen species. Whether this is the cause of his 



