Oxytropis.~\ L. LEGTJMINOSJ;. (J. Gr. Baker.) 137 



1-1 in. ; leaflets ^-f in., obtuse, densely white-canescent on both sides ; stipules small, 

 lanceolate, cuspidate, free. Flowers 6-20, in a dense head, all ascending; peduncles 

 1-2 in., finely canescent ; bracts lanceolate, shaggy, exceeding the very short pedicels. 

 Calyx in. membranous, tubular at first, densely silky, becoming much inflated after 

 the petals fall ; teeth short, lanceolate. Corolla nearly twice the calyx ; wings shorter 

 than the standard ; keel shorter still. Pod | in., oblique oblong, silky, distinctly 

 stalked, 2-4-seeded, with the introverted suture reaching half through. 



UNKNOWN SPECIES. 



Of A. c&ruleus, Hort. Paris; Bunge Mon. i. 103, ii. 184, a species near A. 

 Onobrychis, supposed to have been raised in the Paris garden from Ceylon seeds, we 

 know nothing. No doubt the locality is a mistake. 



27. OXVTROPZS, DO. 



Herbaceous perennials with odd-pinnate leaves, the flowers usually in dense 

 heads. Calyx tubular or campanulate, with 5 subequal teeth. Corolla more or 

 less exserted ; standard longest ; keel shortest, pointed with a distinct cusp. 

 Stamens diadelphous ; anthers uniform. Ovary sessile or stalked, many-ovuled ; 

 style abruptly incurved beardless, stigma capitate. Pod oblong or roundish, 

 turgid, continuous longitudinally within, unilocular or rarely bilocular. DISTEIB. 

 Species about 100, spread through the North temperate zone. 



SECT. I. Hypog lottidei. Flowers in dense peduncled heads. Leaflets not 

 more than one from the same point. Habit of Astragalus, section Hypoylottis. 



* Flowers purple, rarely yellow. 



1. O. lapponica, Gaud. Fl. Helv. iv. 545; stemless or short-stemmed, 

 leaflets lanceolate 13-25, flowers in permanently dense heads, calyx nearly 

 sessile, pod of the lower flowers or all the flowers deflexed. O. microrhyncha, 

 Benth. MSS. Phaca lapponica, DC. Prodr. ii. 274. 



WESTERN HIMALAYAS, frequent in the alpine and temperate regions, alt. 9-17,000 

 ft. SIKKIM, Hook. jil. DISTBIB. Mts. of Europe and Siberia. 



Stems often not developed, sometimes \-^ ft. long. Leaves 13 in. long ; leaflets 

 | g- in., green in the type, with a few adpressed white silky hairs or sometimes nearly 

 glabrescent ; stipules - in., leaf-opposed, connate towards the base. Peduncles 

 ^ ft., with only a few adpressed hairs ; flowers 6-20 in a dense rounded head ; bracts 

 minute, linear. Calyx ^-^ in., coated with adpressed nearly black silky hairs ; teeth 

 linear, shorter than the tube. Corolla bright purple, f-|- in. long ; keel much 

 shorter than the wings. Pod linear-oblong, f-^ in. long, unilocular, keeled down the 

 back, 5-6-seeded, clothed with a few obscure black or white hairs ; stalk as long as 

 the calyx-tube. 



VAB. 1. Jacquemontiana, Benth.; stemless, very dwarf, the whole plant not 

 more than 1-3 in. high, leaflets few small thick greenish, heads 1-3-flowered, corolla 

 rather larger than in the type. A high alpine form. 



VAB. 2. humifusa, Kar. <f Kir., sp. ; stemless, leaflets densely and persistently 

 white-silky on both sides, calyx more densely silky, the black hairs mixed with 

 copious white ones. 0. glacialis, Benth. MSS. Alpine zone of Kashmir and Western 

 Tibet. 



VAB. 3. xanthantha, Baker ; general habit and leaves of the type, but calyx 

 longer, with teeth quite as long as the tube and corolla yellow. East Tibet ; Lama 

 Kongra, alt. 15,000 ft., Hook. Jil. 



2. O. mollis, Royle HI 198 j stemless, tall, leaflets densely white- 



