7^ 



liptical-ovate and close-pressed to keel to Its tip and concave to it, 

 then flare a little and with the upper edge involute a little, wider "than 

 keel, arched to 45 degrees and so concealing the keel, 2 mm. wide in 

 the middle, entire, white, rounded. Base of keel falcate upward and 

 the tip arched at le;ist 90 degrees to this in a short arc, and the tip 

 sharp and produced and about 3 mm. high, dirty-purplish and gray- 

 tipped. Calyx short-cylindric, a trifle laterally flattened at base 

 and obcompressed at tip. not deeper cleft above. About 1.5 mm. Ihick, 

 scarcely fleshy-thickened at base, about 4-5 mm. long. Teeth very 

 short and the sinuses rounded and open. Flowers horizontal, mostly 

 soon reflexed on stout pedicels. Frequent from the borders of Texas 

 through northern Arizona and western Colorado and Wyoming at 

 least to Halleck Nevada and northward to the British line in the up- 

 per edge of the pinon and juniper belt and throughout the Middle 

 Temperate life zone in dry places, preferably on gravelly mesas and 

 gentle slopes, mostly in the sagebrush, not in the Columbia Basin. 

 Since this is the common form and the species was described first I 

 use this name instead of orthocarpus (diversifolius of Gray) which 

 would have to displace the name of Boissier. 



Astragalus junceus var. orthocarpus (Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. 1 351 

 (1838) as Homalobus). A. junciformis Nelson. This is a rare form 

 with the rachis widened to a phyllodium, and with occasionally linear 

 and flat leaflets. Green River Wyoming and vicinity and Helper 

 Utah where all sorts of intergrades occur. 



Astragalus junceus var. attenuatus. Stems very slender. T.eaflets 

 entirely absent or reduced to scales and rachis filiform-attenuate. 

 Pods compressed throughout, narrowly linear, slightly falcate upwnrd, 

 not wider above, about 5 cm. long and 2 mm. high and 1 mm. thick 

 gradually attenuate to a filiform tip. Price Utah on the clay mesas in 

 very poor soil, among the junipers. This is one of those ve;y interest- 

 ing variations produced by peculiar alkaline deserts of the Navajo 

 Basin, but not growing on alkaline flats, and is doubtless caused not 

 by alkali but starvation, though the plant has become perfectly 

 adapted to its environment as it is thrifty and not a sport, nor de- 

 pauperate. 



11. Astragalus Episcopus Watson Proc. Am. Acad. 10 346 (1875). 

 Homalobus Rydberg. Pods flat even at maturity and with cross-section 

 line.-.r, pod half-elliptical to oblong, 2-3 cm. long. 5-6 mm. high in the 

 middle and hardly 1 mm. thick, tip and base shortly and obliquely trian- 

 gular, the ba^e sometimes contracted to a thick stipe half as long as 

 calyx, not sulcate. soon reflexed, smooth and shining, with central sut- 

 ure copspicuously the more arched especially near the base. Seeds 

 filling from half to a third of the width of cavity. Calyx cauipanulate, 

 about ?■ mn;!. long, with very short deltoid teeth. Pedicels slender, about 

 as long as calyx, rarely twisted even in fruit. Flowers white, tinged 

 with pnrple, above about 8 mm. long, with straight base and tip 

 arched to 45 to 90 degrees. Banner broadly ovate, about 1 mm. longer 

 than wings, with sides reflexed below the middle to 1 mm. wide. 

 Wings oblanceolate, oblique, acutish on the upper corner, about 2 m'Ti. 

 wide and 1-3 mm. longer than keel, little flaring. Keel with straight 

 base, rather sharply arched al tip to 90 degrees, and erect part 3-4 mm. 

 high, rather narrowly-triangular but not conspicuously sharp as in al- 

 lied species. Stems rigid, round, zig-zag, very much branched form- 

 ing a mass about as broad as long, the internodes 3-5 cm. long, 

 stems a))0'it 1-" ft high. Petioles almost as thick as stems and equal- 

 ly rigid, tapering but bl'^'^t. rarely -^ +r'flp widened at tip, 6-8 cm. long, 

 curved, with 1-2 pairs of silalternate srnttrrpd ip^fets. ^.r the upper 

 OT.es without leaflets, leaflet? vhe--" ^hcTt r-re oblong, when long i-e 

 linear. 3-20 rrm. long, thick and rigid, bl 'nt. Stip-i^es small hyaline. 

 Proper peduncles as stout as stems and similar, rarely as long as leaves. 



