57 



even A. inflexus in beauty and size and with great flowers and pods, 

 and here the Argophylli stop short off. These two species seem wholly 

 out of place and yet even extend to the Charleston mountains. One 

 would expect here a jump to some other remarkable allied group 

 but there is none in the whole region. The Malaci are the nearest, 

 and seem like hybrids between this group and the Hamosi. When we 

 follow the Argophylli eastward and then southward we find them 

 varying into the pygmaeus-amphioxys group, more adapted to the 

 hotter climates, and these seem to have jumped into the Mollissimi at 

 the south and the Sarcocari^i at the north and east. The Argophylli 

 do not extend much into the regions of permanent snow cover, but 

 belong to that trying region of the lower Middle Temperate and 

 Lower Temperate where the snow comes and goes, and thaws alter- 

 nate with freezes so that all stems persisting over winter must be 

 closely protected by matting, by dead leaves and petioles and by 

 dense stipules and wool or hair and short internodes. 



The Sarcocarpi have passed up into the region of permanent 

 winter snow cover for the most part at the north and do not show thi.-j 

 adaptation, but the southern species do. 



The Mollissimi are protected more against heat by their shaggy 

 covering, but in the far south A. Humboldtii and others have only the 

 close silvery pubescence, and even that is often sparse. 



The effects of heat are best shown in the Tropical life zone where 

 plants have been compelled to adopt the most effective system, better 

 than phyllodia, the destruction of the perennial root. This requires 

 no winter protection, or devices against continued droughts but 

 could obtain only where the resting period is one of drought and 

 not cold, otherwise the seeds would rot. The annual habit results In 

 slender stems, small leaves, flowers and pods, the latter with thin 

 walls. For this reason we have the Didymocarpi and Leptocarpi the 

 prevailing species, along with a smattering of Inflati, and other 

 groups. In the few perennials which persist in favorable places there 

 is the same leaf, flower and stem reduction and absence of phyllodia, 

 tho"?h here and there a few like pictus and some Homalobi persist. 



The presence of a poison, in most of the species, affecting the 

 motor nerves makes che ger.us of no economic importt^nco as very 

 few are eaten at all by animals, while some species destroy many 

 horses and sheep. A. Coltoni is poisonous to hogs in the La Sal 

 region of Utah. A. mollissimus is the loco Asti-agalus of the Plains. 

 A. Canadensis has poisoned sheep in Montana. Various forms of A. 

 lentiginosus have a bad reputation in southern Utah. No Astragali 

 are voluntarily eaten by animals, but in the spring, when animals 

 are ravenous for the first green things that come out of the ground 

 they will bite at anything and it is at such times that they are poi- 

 soned. Once poisoned they get a craving for them and become 

 "locoed" (crazy), when the range is all eaten off but these plants 

 sheep will eat them rather than starve and it is in this way that they 

 get poisoned. 



COLOR OF THE FLOWERS AS REGARDS ALKALINITY. 



Practically all the pink or pink-purple flowers on drying, become 

 bluish, exceptions to this are A. coccineus and sometimes funerens. 

 The reason for this is that the papers in which the plants are dried 

 contain alkali and this neutralizes the acid of the red tints and turns 

 it alkaline which then becomes blue. Whenever this is the case the 

 natural color can be restored by moisten-rg the flower by a dilute 

 acid. As has alrerdy been said the soil of the entire west is alkaline 

 south vary somewhat in the tendency i'3 turn blue. A. coccineus 



