638 : ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
shrub, with persistent leaves, seldom exceeding 1 ft. in height. After the 
leaflets drop off, the petioles become indurated, so as to give the plant 
the appearance of being densely covered with spines. It is a native of 
Marseilles and Narbonne, in sandy places, as well as of Corsica and 
Mauritania, and was introduced in 1640. It was treated by Miller as a 
distinct genus, under its old name of Y'ragacantha; and he describes 
four species ; one of which was a native of Marseilles and Italy, with large 
white flowers, which appears to be Lamarck’s A. massiliénsis ; a second, a 
native of Majorca and Minorca, and a third, a native of the islands 
of the Archipelago, also with white flowers; and a fourth, a native 
of Spain, with flowers of a dirty white. None of these, it would ap- 
pear, are the same as the species now before us, which has decidedly 
purplish flowers. It is stated in Thompson’s Dispensatory, and in 
books generally, that the Astragalus Zragacantha produces the gum 
tragacanth; but the accounts respecting the production of the gum by 
this plant are so unsatisfactory, that it is impossible to give credence to 
them. Tournefort says that he examined the plants which produce the gum 
tragacanth upon Mount Ida; _ and from his remarks it may be concluded that 
the gum is obtained from A. Tragacantha and 4. créticus (fig. 321.); which 
last has not yet been introduced into Eng- A 
land ; but Siebuhr, in his Voyage de Crete, 
could not find any proof that the A. créti- 
cus produced any gum. La Billardiere, — »s } y 
who visited Mount Lebanon, says that Yi —k@nyAZeaeayye 
the gum is there obtained from a species \ -S Za if 
which he calls A. gimmifer, and that the 
shepherds go in search of it during night, 
or after a heavy dew ; whereas Tournefort 
says that it can only be collected during 
the great heats of the day. On the whole, 
the subject of the gum appears involved in a degree of uncertainty not 
less than that of the species. All that we can state with certainty is, 
that there is a plant bearing the name of Astragalus Tragacantha in British 
gardens, and that it merits a place in collections, as a very curious little 
shrub. It is generally propagated by seeds, which it sometimes ripens in 
England, or by cuttings. It requires a dry soil, and a sunny situation. 

App. i. Other ligneous Species of Astragalus in Cultivation. 
In our Hortus Britannicus will be found above a dozen other species of 
Astragalus, marked as technically ligneous; but they are of such low 
growth, as to be much more fit for cultivating as herbaceous plants, than 
as shrubs. If we were 
toadmitthem, weshould | 
be compelled to admit 
the common pink and 
carnation, and, indeed, 
all those herbaceous 
plants which retain their 
leaves during winter. On 
rockwork some of them 
may be introduced ; and 
among these we may 
mention, as to be pro- 
cured from Loddiges’s — z 
arboretum, A. altdicus = 
Lodd. Cah.; A arisiatus 
7 + 
L’Herit. Stirp., 170., with yellow flowers, which is figured in Bot. Cab, t. 1278., and our fig. 322.; 
A. brevifolius, with a purplish flower, figured in Bot. Cab., t. 1388., and our jig. 323. ; and A. mas- 
siliénsis Lam., which is probably, as we have already stated, a variety of A. Tragacantha, with white 
flowers instead of purplish ones. 

4 
App. ii. Hardy Species of Astragalus not yet introduced. 
A. aborigindrum Richards in Franklin’s Journ. Append., p.746. Plant suffruticose, erect. Leaves 
with 5 pairs of lanceolate-linear hoary-pubescent leaflets, Racemes axillary, loose, extending beyond 
the leaves. Native of arctic America. Flowers white or bluish. The keel decidedly blue. Roots 
long and yellow, like those of liquorice; and gathered in the spring, by the Cree and Stone Indians, 
as an article of food. (Don’s M7i/., 2. p. 268.) ; 
