222 Leguminosae 



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

 broadly triangular. 



Occasional in the upper chaparral belt in all our 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. 



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

 atalina Island. March-May. 



3. A. strigosus (Kell.) Sheldon. Slender, sparsely and mi- 

 nutely pubescent, 15-20 cm. high ; leaflets 9-15, linear or cuneate, 

 acute or retuse ; flowers many, capitate, on a slender peduncle, 

 purple and white; pod 15 mm., long, slender, incurved, 2-celled, 

 5-10 seeded. 



In low ground near the coast. March-May. 



