90 Debiles. 



tooth Mts. southern Idaho and eastward to eastern Montana and 

 northward to British Columbia, not in Utah, alpine and subalpine 

 on rocky slopes, blooming in July and August. The type has very 

 short stems. The less alpine forms have longer stems and leaves. 



30. Astragalus leptaleus Gray Proc. Am. Acad. 6 220 (1864). Phaca 

 pauciflora Nutt. A. pauciflorus (Nutt.) Gray. Pods rarely 1 cm. long, 

 3-4 mm. wide, chartaceous, a trifle inflated, elliptical-lanceolate or 

 ovate to oval, acutish, abruptly contracted into a stipe about half as 

 long as calyx, very shallow and widely-sulcate or flat dorsally, rather 

 obcompressed, appearing as if nearly round in cross section, little 

 oblique, sometimes a little curved and resembling small forms of A. 

 flexuosus. Flowers 2-5, white (rarely purplish) on the ends of long 

 and filiform axillary peduncles which are shorter than the leaves, about 



1 cm. long. Banner obovate to oblong-obovate, about 7 mm. long, 4-5 

 mm. wide, notched, abruptly arched to 45 degrees at calyx tips, 2-3 mm. 

 Longei* than wings. Wings oblanceolate, 2 mm. wide, rather arched 

 often to 30 degrees, 2 mm. longer than keel. Keel very short, about 



2 mm. long and high, rounded to a half circle from base, very obtuse. 

 Calyx tube about 3 mm. long, narrowed below, not oblique, a little 

 longer than the subulate teeth and about as long as the filiform pedicel 

 and subulate bract. Peduncles 2-5 cm. long. Leaves 7-10 cm. long, very 

 narrow with ascending leaflets, and very delicate. Leaflets 7-11 pairs, 

 lanceolate to elliptical, acute, distant, long-petiolulate, 7-12 mm. long. 

 Stipules narrowly subulate, not reflexed, 4-10 mm. long, connate even 

 on the uppermost nodes. Stems filiform, flexuous and very weak, 

 rarely a foot long, often only a few inches long, the internodes rather 

 short, minutely and sparsely pubescent but seemingly smooth. Whole 

 plant very delicate, supported by the grass in the deep meadows in 

 which it grows. Stems very few from slender running rootstocks as in 

 A. andinus. This is equally rare with A. debilis and with the same 

 wide distribution. Middle Temperate life zone. From Santa Fe New 

 Mexico northward to British America. Westward to Gunnison Colorado, 

 not as yet found in Utah nor the Great Basin. Monida, Somers, Big- 

 fork Montana, Jones. 



