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“ASTRAGALUS. | LEGUMINOS &. 143 
11 ASTRAGALUS Tourn. (RATTLE WEED, Loco-WEED). 
Ereet or decumbent herbs with unequally pinnate leaves with- 
out tendrils, persistent stipules and axillary spikes or racemes of 
rather small, narrow flowers. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals with 
slender claws, the keel obtuse. Stamens diadelphous. Stigma 
terminal, minute. Pod very various, commonly turgid or in- 
flated, one or both sutures often projecting inward more or less, 
the dorsal one frequently so much as to divide the cell into two, 
rarely flat. Seeds few or many, on slender stalks, generally 
small for the size of the pod. 
Series I. AsrraGaLus L. gen. n. 892 as genus. Pod com- 
pletely or imperfectly 2-celled by the intrusion of the dorsal su- 
ture, the ventral suture being not at all or less deeply intruded. 
§ 1 Dirnyst Gray Proc. Am. Acad. vi, 193. Pods ovate or 
globose, membranaceous or coriaceous, inflated, glabrous or 
nearly so, sessile, completely 2-celled and more or less didymous 
by the intrusion of both sutures, several-seeded :. pubescence 
short or wanting; flowers rather small, white to purple or yel- 
lowish, spicate or subspicate. : 
A. araneosus Sheld. Bull. Minn. Nat. Hist. Surv. No. 9,170. Gla- 
brous throughout or slightly pubescent when young: stems decumbent or 
assurgent, 6-18 inches long, very finely striate, simple, few to many from 
a thick perennial rout: leaves 4-6 inches long, the rachis slightly winged, 
not channeled or but slightly so: stipules deltoid-acuminate, semi-sheath- 
ing below, reflexed; leatlets 6-8 pairs, 5-6 lines long, somewhat fleshy, or- 
bicular or obcordate, obtuse, retuse or emarginate; peduncles equalling 
the leaves, striate, capitately or subspicately 10-12 flowered; calyx short- 
cylindrical, with a few scattered, blackish hairs, the linear spreading teeth 
1,-%4 the length of the tube; petals whitish tipped with purple: pods 
ovate-lanceolate, arcuate-incurved, with a long acuminate incurved beak, 
6-10 lines long, coriaceous, glabrous, minutely reticulated, sessile, both 
sutures intruded so as to form a nearly 2 celled cavity which is lined 
throughout with fine cobwebby hairs, 8-10-seeded. On dry plains and 
hillsides, Eastern Oregon and Washington to Utah. 
A. lentiginosus Dougl. Don Syst. Gard. and Bot. ii, 257. Slightly pu- 
bescent: stems tufted, 6-12 inches long, soon diffusely spreading: stipules 
small, ovate, acute; leaflets 11-19, from obovate or oblanceolate to oblong, 
8-6 lines long: pods turgid, ovate, acaminate, more or less incurved, 4-6 
lines long, puberulent, often mottled, thick-membranaceous. sessile, 2-cel- 
led by the intrusion of both sutures, 6-S-seeded. Dry plains, Brit. Colum- 
bia to California and Nevada. 
A. salinus Howell Eryth. i, 111. Minutely hirsute: stems numerous 
from a thick perennial root. decumbent. or ascending, rather s!ender 4-3 
inches long, much branched: leaflets 9-17, obovate to oblong. obtuse or 
retuse, 4-6 lines long: peduncles shorter than the leaves: calyx narrow. 
its short subulate teeth half as long as the tube; flowers yellowish. 6-8 
lines long: pods inflated. ovoid. short-beaked. chartaceous, 6-8 lines long, 
very glabrous. nearly 2-celled by the intrusion of the dorsal suture, sev- 
eral-seeded. . In saline soil, Harney valley, southeastern Oregon. 
A. diaphanus Dougl. Hook. Fl. i. 151. Prostrate and_ diffuse, pilose- 
scabrous; stipules small, ovate. acuminate; leaflets 11-19, obovate: pedun- 
cles shorter than the leaves: flowers about 6 lines long, purple, in loose 
heads; bracts minute, ovate, acuminate rather shorter than the pedicels: 
