Astragalus.'] L. LEGUMINOSJE. (J. Gr. Baker.) 135 



with densely crowded nodes, flowers in short-peduncled heads, corolla half as 

 long again as the calyx. Bunge Mon. i. 43, ii. 67. 



West Himalayas, temperate and alpine region, alt. 10-14,000 ft.; ZANSKAR, 

 Thomson. 



A dichotomously-branched undershrub, with the old part of the stems densely 

 beset with stiff persistent ascending leaf-rachises 3-4 in. long. Stipules lanceolate, 

 ^ in. long; leaflets 21-25, close, oblong, obtuse, caducous, |-f in. long, densely 

 clothed on both sides with rather spreading short pale brown silky pubescence. 

 Flowers up to a half-a-dozen in heads much overtopped by the leaves ; pedicels in., 

 densely pubescent; bracts linear-setaceous, plumose. Calyx ^-f in., tubular, densely 

 silky ; teeth setaceous, \ as long as the tube. Corolla f in. ; wings shorter than 

 standard and keel than wings. Ovary oblong, silky, short-stalked ; ovules about 20. 

 Pod not seen. 



65. A. leptocentrus, Bunge Mon. i. 44; ii. 69 ; main stems elongated, 

 branchlets with densely crowded nodes, flowers 1-2 together in leaf- axils not 

 peduncled, corolla twice as long as the calyx. A. leptacanthus, Benth. MSS. 

 non Boiss. 8f Buhse. 



West Himalayas, alpine region. PITI, alt. 14,000 ft., Thomson; HAZARA, 

 Winterbottom. 



A low undershrub. with branches clothed with very dense short pale brown 

 spreading pubescence. Leaf-rachises erecto-patent, 2-3 in. long, persistently pubes- 

 cent; leaflets 21-31, oblong, obtuse, | f in. long, persistently matted on both 

 sides with thick grey- brown silky pubescence. Pedicels ^ in., densely silky ; bracts 

 plumose, linear-setaceous. Calyx in., densely silky ; teeth linear-setaceous, a third 

 as long as the tube. Corolla an inch long ; keel much shorter than standard and 

 wings. Pod oblong, | | in., sessile, silky, turgid, bilocular, 12-14-seeded. 



66. A. bicuspis, Fisch. Mon. Trag. No. 94; main stems elongated, 

 nodes not crowded, flowers 1-3 together in the axils of the leaves not 

 peduncled, corolla half as long- again as the calyx. Bunge Mon. i. 43, ii. 69. 

 A. lasiocladus, Benth. MSS. 



HAZARA and WEST TIBET, temperate zone, Winterbottom, Jacquemont, Falconer. 



General habit of A. polyacanthus. Branches clothed with dense spreading or 

 deflexed pale brown silky hairs. Spines 1-2 in. long, stramineous, erecto-patent. 

 Stipules | | in., lanceolate-cuspidate; leaflets 1317, oblong, | | in. long, obtuse, 

 or subacute, shaggy with dense pubescence like the stem. Pedicels very short. Calyx 

 % in. long, shaggy with dense silky hairs like the stem. Corolla f-| in. ; wings and 

 keel much shorter than the standard. Pod shaggy, subsessile, oblong, bilocular, f -| in. 

 long, 8-10-seeded. 



STJBGEN-. 9. Trag-acantha, Bunge. A low shrub with basifixed hairs, 

 indurated spiny leaf-rachis, caducous leaflets and sessile calyx narrowed equally 

 to the base. 



67. A. strobiliferus, Royle HI. 199 ; Bunge Mon. i. 83, ii. 146 ; Camb. 

 in Jacquem. Voy. Bot. 39, t. 47, not Lindl. 



West Himalayas, temperate and alpine region, alt. 8-13,000 ft. ; PITI, KASHMIR, 

 KUNAWAR. DISTRIB. Afghanistan. 



A copiously-branched undershrub, not more than a few inches high, densely 

 armed with the ascending spine-tipped stramineous petioles, which are 1-2 inches 

 long. Stipules membranous, deltoid, adnate to the petiole, like those of a rose, 

 except at the tip ; leaflets 11-13, oblanceolate, glaucous, rigid, acute, -f in. long, 

 strigillose. Flowers a few sessile in the axil of each petiole, scarcely protruding 



