Astragalus. LEGUMINOS^. 173 



obtuse ; peduncles about as long as the leaves ; spikes oblong or elongated ; bracts subulate, 

 nearly as long as the calyx ; flowers (ochroleucous) spreading and partly reflexed ; legumes 

 ovate-oblong, terete, erect, coriaceous, smooth, 2-celled, many-seeded ; the upper suture 

 prominent and acute. — Willd. sp. 3. p. 1274 ; " Dodar. mem. t. 64 ;" Pursh, fl. 2. p. 472 ; 

 Ell. sk. 2. p. 227 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 93 ; Hook.fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 152 ; Torr. ^ Gr. fl. N. 

 Am. 1. p. 33. A. Carolinianus, Linn. ; Michx.fl. 2. p. 66 ; Pursh, I. c. ; Ell. I. c. ; DC. I. c. 



Root perennial. Stem 1-3 feet high, robust, with somewhat erect branches. Leaflets 

 from three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half long, nearly smooth above, pubescent 

 underneath ; the hairs fixed by the middle. Spikes erect, at first ovate and only about an 

 inch long, finally cylindrical and 2-4 inches or more in length. Flowers three-fourths of an 

 inch long, yellowish-white. Teeth of the caly.x; scarcely one-fourth the length of the tube. 

 Legumes sessile, 5-6 lines long and 2-3 lines in diameter, abruptly pointed with the 

 remains of the style, forming a compact head or spike, perfectly 2-celled. Seeds 10 - 15, 

 reniform, compressed, light brown. 



Banks of rivers and lakes ; chiefly in the northern and western counties ; not found below 

 Hudson. Fl. June - August. — No other Astragalus has hitherto been found within the 

 limits of New-York. Forty other species are natives of North America, chiefly in the regions 

 west of the Mississippi and in British America. 



16. PHACA. Linn.; Endl. gen. 6571. BASTARD vetch. 



[ From phake at phakos, the Greek name for lentil.] 



Calyx 5-toothed or 5-cleft ; the 2 upper teeth often a little remote from each other. Keel 

 obtuse. Legume mostly turgid or inflated, one-celled, the upper (placental) suture some- 

 what tumid. — Mostly perennial herbs, with axillary pedunculate racemes. Legumes, when 

 mature, often resupinate by the twisting of the pedicels. 



1. PiiACA NEGLECTA, Torr. 8^ Gr. (Plate XXVI.) Bastard Vetch. 



Plant nearly smooth ; stem erect, branching ; leaflets 6-10 pairs, elliptical, often emargi- 

 nate, smooth above, pubescent with appressed hairs underneath ; stipules triangular-ovate ; 

 peduncles about the length of the leaves ; spikes oblong, many-flowered ; calyx campanulate, 

 pubescent with blackish hairs, the subulate teeth much shorter than the tube ; legume sessile, 

 globose-ovoid, pointed, coriaceo-membranaceous, flattened on the upper side, and deeply 

 grooved by the inlroflexion of the ventral suture. — Torr. ^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. p. 344. 



Root perennial. Stem 1-2 feet high, rather slender, terete, sparingly branched. Leaflets 

 about three-fourths of an inch long and one-fourth of an inch wide, each with short partial 

 petioles. Hairs of the pubescence fixed by the middle. Stipules 2-3 lines long. Peduncles 

 somewhat spreading, slender. Spikes 15 - 25-flowered ; the flowers about as large as in 

 Astragalus Canadensis, white. Legumes three-fourths of an inch long and half an inch in 



