Astragalus. LEGUMINOS^E. 



downwards, more numerous and rather larger flowers, slender calyx-lobes not so long in propor- 

 tion to the tube, and the more hairy pod strongly inflexed. 



2. Pod not membranaceous-inflated, coriaceous or cartilaginous, densely long-ivoolly 

 or long hairy, commonly turgid, incurved, many-seeded, sessile in the calyx. 



* Cespitose and depressed, the stems very short or spreading on the ground : foliage 

 canescently ivoolly or silky-villous : flowers long and narrow, often an inch in 

 length : tube of the calyx cylindrical : filiform claivs of the petals much longer than 

 the blades : pods very densely woolly, ovate-incurved. 



25. A. Purshii, Dougl. Barely a span high, in matted tufts, canescently silky- 

 villous rather than tomentose : leaflets 9 to 19, oblong (3 to 5 lines long) : pedun- 

 cles shorter than the leaves, bearing 5 or 6 crowded flowers : calyx-teeth slender- 

 subulate : corolla dull white with purple tip to the keel and sometimes to the other 

 petals : pod an inch or less in length, very densely clothed with long white or yel- 

 lowish hairs, so as to appear like pellets of wool, at length much incurved, of rather 

 cartilaginous texture, one-celled, but at maturity the dorsal suture sometimes inward 

 so as nearly to meet the ventral, but not strictly forming a partition. Hook. Fl. i. 

 152 ; Gray, 1. c. Phaca mollissima, Xutt. 



Eastern ranges of the Sierra Nevada (Anderson, Brewer, &c. ), and through the dry interior to 

 the Rocky Mountains and the borders of British Columbia. Also on Alt. San Carlos, at 3,500 to 

 4,000 feet, on a very dry slope, Brewer. The Californian forms are comparatively small-flowered, 

 and have the corolla purple at tip. Of the annexed nearly related species none have yet been 

 collected in the State, but most of them may probably be found. 



A. UTAHENSIS, Torr. & Gray. (Phaca mollissima, var. Utahcnsis, Torr. in Stansbury Rep. 

 385, t. 2.) This belongs to the Salt Lake district, but appears to have been found by Watson 

 even in the western part of Nevada. It is distinguished from A. Purshii only or mainly by 

 rounder leaflets, clothed with truly tomentose white wool, and longer peduncles. 



A. THOMPSONS, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. x. 345, found in S. Utah by Mrs. Thompson and 

 Captain Bishop, is between the two preceding in the shape of the leaflets and the woolliness, but 

 has flowers little over half an inch long, shorter calyx-teeth, and a pod (about the same length) 

 with shorter wool, so that its shape is visible, with a conspicuous groove on both sides, the dorsal 

 one forming a partition which divides the cell, except near the acute apex. 



A. ERIOCAUPITS, Watson, Bot. King Exp. 71 (not of Parry's S. Utah collection, No. 44, which is 

 A. Purshii), of the foot-hills in W. Nevada. This is apparently more stemless than the pre- 

 ceding, has oval or obovate leaflets over half an inch in length, a thinner and longer silky 

 pubescence, which is sparse and rather hirsute on the elongated naked scape, a dark-haired calyx 

 with filiform teeth more than half the length of the tube, deep-purple corolla over an inch long 

 and nearly twice the length of the calyx, and an oblong inflexed curved pod, clothed with shorter 

 and coarser hirsute wool, the sutures intruding below, but not dividing the cell. This in some 

 respects approaches the more northern and still imperfectly known A. iuflexus, Dougl., which is 

 decidedly caulescent, more villous, with lighter purple corolla little longer than the long filiform 

 calyx-teeth, the bracts and stipules mostly subulate-setaceous. 



* * Stems ascending or erect, a foot or so high : pods falcate, laterally compressed, 



2-celled : stipules adnate to the base of the. petiole. 



26. A. malacus, Gray. Villous-hirsute with long spreading hairs, rather stout : 

 leaflets 11 to 17, obovate, retuse, 4 to 8 lines long: peduncles surpassing the 

 leaves, bearing a rather close spike of several or many flowers ; these two thirds 

 of an inch long : calyx cylindrical, dark-hairy ; the slender teeth much shorter 

 than the tube, not very much shorter than the usually deep purple corolla; 

 the claws of the- latter long and slender : pods pendulous or spreading, lunate- 

 lanceolate, an inch long, 3 or 4 lines wide, densely long-hairy, turgid and grooved 

 on the back, sharp-edged ventrally, many-seeded. Proc, Am. Acad. vii. 336. 



Eastern ranges of the Sierra Nevada, from the Virginia Alountains, &c. (Anderson, Watson), to 

 Owen's Valley, Dr. Horn. 



27. A. Anders onii, Gray. Canescent with dense somewhat silky pubescence, 

 rather slender : leaflets 13 to 25, oblong or oval, rarely obovate, mucronate, 3 to 6 

 lines long : peduncles surpassing the leaves : flowers numerous and crowded in an 



