428 



ON SEEDLINGS 



cotyledons, or the edge or the back of one, which is impressed by 

 its outline accordingly. 



Astragalus tManschaniciis, Begel (fig. 278). 

 Primary root tapering downwards, flexuous, furnished with short 

 lateral rootlets, and producing more or less numerous sessile, fleshy, 

 tubercules ; sometimes the primary root is overpowered by strong 



lateral rootlets. 



Hypocotyl erect, te- 

 rete, glabrous, subterranean, 

 colourless, 1'75 cm. long. 



Cotyledons obliquely ob- 

 ovate, obtuse, glabrous, 

 petiolate, subfleshy, deep 

 subglaucous - green above, 

 paler beneath ; lamina 9 

 mm. long, 5 mm. broad ; 

 petiole subchannelled above, 

 3-5 mm. long, connate at 

 the base and sheathing. 



Stem erect or ascending, 

 herbaceous, terete at the 

 base, angular upwards, 

 covered with a pale ad- 

 pressed pubescence, ulti- 

 mately glabrous or nearly 

 so, and shining ; 1st inter- 

 node 1*5 mm- long, some- 

 times longer ; 2nd 7 mm. ; 

 3rd 6-5 mm. ; 4th 1-2 cm. ; 

 5th 2-15 cm. ; 6th 3'2 cm. ; 

 7th 2-7 cm. 



Leaves compound, im- 

 paripinnate, cauline, alter- 

 nate, stipulate, petiolate, 

 deep subglaucous-green and 

 glabrous above, glaucous beneath and thinly pubescent with ad- 

 pressed hairs ; petioles subterete, slightly channelled on the upper 

 surface, pubescent, as well as the rachis ; stipules subulate, acumi- 

 nate, slender, hyaline, with a few scattered hairs, connate by their 

 posterior edges, and forming a kind of sheath opposite to the leaf in 

 the seedling stage, sometimes, though rarely, splitting apart in the 

 adult plant ; leaflets petiolulate. 



FIG. 278. Astragalus thianschanicus. 

 Half nat. size. 



