Astragalus. LEGUMINOS^E. 155 



trary to the narrow and externally prominent sutures ; the cross section transversely 

 oblong (4 or 5 lines by 2 or 3) : seeds numerous. 



Indian and Sierra Valley, in the northeastern part of the Sierra Nevada, Lemmon, Mrs. Pul- 

 sifcr Ames. Flowers in July. To this very probably belongs the Astragalus from the interior 

 of Oregon, mentioned in Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 694, under Pfiaca leucophylla ; but the legumes of 

 the latter are shorter and obloug-ovate. 



b. Pods terete, straight, narrow, thin-coriaceous, grooved on the back and that suture 

 intruded so as to divide the cell or nearly so, and render the cross section cordately 

 Globed. 



40. A. atratUS, Watson. A span to a foot high, loosely branching, slender, 

 cinereous-puberulent or glabrate : leaflets 7 to 15, linear or oblong, 2 to 5 lines 

 long: peduncles elongated, 5 - 10-flowered ; the flowers usually sparse (half an 

 inch long) : teeth of the calyx shorter than the campanulate tube : corolla curved, 

 Avhitish or the keel violet-tipped : pod pendulous, short-stipitate in the calyx, slen- 

 der (about 9 lines long and barely 2 in diameter), puberulent : seeds 10 to 20. 

 Bot. KingExp. 69, t. 11. 



N. W. Nevada, Watson. Not found so near California as the next, which is very nearly related 

 to it. Well marked among these species by the short stipe of the pod, wholly within the tube 

 of the calyx. 



41. A. obscurus, Watson, 1. c. Resembles the preceding : flowers more crowded 

 in the short spike : keel-petals longer and narrower, equalling the wings : pod ses- 

 sile in the calyx, only half an inch long, fewer-seeded, erect or nearly so, terete, 

 straight. 



Near the eastern borders of the State : rocky foot-hills near Truckee Pass, Watson. Eagle Val- 

 ley, Nevada, Stretch. 



= = Numerous flowers crowded in a dense cylindrical or oblong spike : pods also 

 densely spicate: stem erect: leaflets numerous, 21 or more. 



42. A. Mortoni, Nutt. Two feet high or less, minutely appressed-pubescent, 

 greenish : leaflets oblong (half to an inch long) : flowers nearly sessile, reflexed as 

 they open, but the fruit erect : corolla dull greenish-white or cream-color, half an 

 inch long : pods of nearly the same length, minutely pubescent, elongated-oblong, 

 2-celled, grooved at the dorsal suture, but the ventral one externally prominent : 

 seeds numerous. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 196. A. Canadensis, var. Mortoni, 

 Watson, 1. c. 



Moist grounds, along the eastern ranges of the Sierra Nevada, from Mono Lake (Brewer) north- 

 ward to the interior of Oregon and Utah. Noted by Mr. Lemmon as "a deadly sheep poison." 



43. A. pycnostachyus, Gray. A foot or more high, rather stout, soft-pubescent : 

 leaflets hoary with a villous pubescence, oblong (about half an inch long) : flowers 

 closely sessile in a very dense oblong or cylindraceous spike : pods retrorsely imbri- 

 cated, ovate, acute, slightly flattened laterally and margined by the slender prominent 

 sutures, one-celled, the walls thin-coriaceous, coarsely reticulated, glabrous : seeds 

 few ; the ovules only 5. Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 527. 



Salt marshes, Bolinas Bay, Bolander, 1863. Not elsewhere or since collected. Flowers appar- 

 ently whitish and only 5 lines long. 



-n- ++ ++ Flowers and few-seeded ^-celled pods both small, 2 or 3 lines long : stigma 

 capitate : stems diffuse or decumbent, flowering abundantly almost from the base 

 upwards : stipules ovate or the upper triangular : petioles short. 



44. A. Lemmoni, Gray. Minutely appressed-pubescent, green : stems slender, 

 a foot or two long, soon procumbent : leaflets 9 to 11, linear-oblong, mucronate (4 or 

 5 lines long) : peduncles filiform, rather shorter than the leaves (an inch or two 

 long) : flowers rather numerous in a dense oblong raceme : calyx with setaceous- 

 subulate teeth fully equalling the short-campanulate tube : corolla whitish tinged 



