Blue to Purple Flowers 269 



than the leaves ; spikes subcylindrical ; teeth of the calyx subulate, about 

 the length of the tube; legumes short, terete, acuminate. 



As remarked before, Qxytropis differs from Astragalus 

 in having flowers with very pointed keels and long naked 

 flower-stalks that grow up directly from the base of the 

 plant; also its flower-spikes are more elongated than those 

 of the Ascending and Purple Milk Vetches, which are 

 roundish. The Alpine Oxytrope is a hairy, rather sticky 

 plant, and .bears blossoms of many shades of gray-blue, 

 violet, mauve, purple, and creamy white. 



Oxytropis splendcns, or Showy Oxytrope, is rightly 

 named, for its handsome bright purple-blue or purple-pink 

 flowers, growing in dense spikes on the top of the long 

 straight stalks, and its quantity of silvery silky foliage 

 render it a remarkably handsome member of the Pea Fam- 

 ily. The whole plant, including the stalks, leaves, and 

 calyx, is extremely woolly. 



Oxytropis dcftexa, or Drooping- fruited Oxytrope, is a 

 soft pubescent or silky plant with leaves bearing twelve to 

 sixteen pairs of narrow pointed leaflets. The small pale 

 purple flowers grow in slender spikes on stalks which far 

 exceed the leaves in length. The calyx is nearly as long 

 as the corolla and is covered with short black and longer 

 white hairs. The fruit is the most remarkable feature of 

 this plant, it is very strongly deflexed. 



Oxytropis podocarpa, or Inflated Oxytrope, is an arctic 

 and alpine plant, which grows only from one to four inches 

 high and has violet flowers and tiny very hairy stalks and 

 leaves. The main stems grow partly underground and are 

 imbricated, that is to say, they are covered with numer- 

 ous small overlapping leaves ; but the pods are the most 

 noticeable feature, being abnormally large and inflated. 



