100 Inflati 



all white and base purple, with purple midrib, purple-veined, notched, 

 oval, about 5 mm. longr. broadly and deeply grooved, with sides re- 

 flexed, one half mm. wide below. Wings white at tip and p irple below 

 or all white, obovate, arched to nearly erect, obtuse, concave to keel 

 and connivent over the end, spreading on th lower side, narrowed and 

 a trifle longer th.'in The keel, and 2 mm. shorter than the banner. 

 Keel dark-purple or brown, the base a little arched, the tip abruptly 

 arched to 100 degrees and acutish, higher than long. Calyx tube cam- 

 panulate, truncate at base, obcompressed at tip, not gibbons, nearly 

 as long as the subulate lobes. Bracts subulate, green, hairy. Pedicels 

 1 mm. long, as long as or a little shorter than the bracts. Peduncles and 

 rachis about ns long as the leaves, the young ones as long as the young 

 leaves. Leaves 5 cm. long, with petiole about one third the whole. Leaf- 

 lets 4-12 mm. long, obovate to elliptical, about 4-G i)airs, green b'lt de- 

 cidedly pubescent with fine appressed hairs, hoary when young, hairs of 

 the pods longer. Stipules slender, triangular, 2-3 mm. long. Rtems 1-2 dm. 

 long, the central one erect, the others variously spreading, flexiious, 

 stout for the plant, annual or rarely blooming as a winter annual, 

 with the aspect of A. Geyeri but more condensed. Internodes usually 

 1.5 cm. rarely 2.5 cm. long. Whole plant even to the pods short- 

 shaggy with half appressed hairs, the leaves a little greener but all 

 hoary, the hairs spreading on the pods. From the Moencoppa north- 

 ern Arizona (Navajo Basin) and Lee's Ferry to Hawthorne and 

 Rhodes Nevada and Imperial Valley and Indio California, growing :'i 

 sandy deserts. Tropical and on the lower edge of the Lower Tem- 

 perate life zone. Blooming in April. It is not easy to separate this 

 from A. pubentisimus except by the habitat and life zone. The 

 latter species has conspicuously arcuate pods and the p ibescence 

 finer and more wavy and much longer on the pods. Flowers also 

 larger. The inteniodes shorter, and stems decidedly flexuous and 

 flat on the ground. 



37. Astragalus aridus Gray Proc. Am. Acad. 6 223 (1864). A. 

 albatus Sheldon. Pods half elliptical, or obliquely ovate, shortly 

 acute at both ends or at least narrowed below and acute at tip, 'iT^stly 

 laterally flattened at both ends, 1-1.5 cm. long, 5-8 mm. high, ascending, 

 with neither suture prominent externally, with cross section about 

 round in the middle, the ventral suture straight or concave, the dor- 

 sal arched to a third circle, tip deltoid and flat, from scarcely evi- 

 dent to 3 mm. long. Flowers racemose, inclined to be cleistogamous, 

 about 5 mm. long, few, rarely 10, at first dull-purple-tipped afterwards 

 white or all white. Banner arched abruptly to erect at calyx tips, 

 ?bout 3 mm. long, with sides reflexed a little above, about 1 mm. longer 

 than wings, white spot large and purple veined. Wings oblanceolate, 

 about as long as keel, a little arched, one half mm. wide. Keel 2 mm. 

 long, the base nearly straight and tip nearly erect and blunt, about 

 1 mm. high. Calyx tube turbinate, the longitudinal section deltoid, 

 about 1 mm. long, not oblique nor apparently deeper cleft above, the 

 teeth oblong to broadly triangular, barely acute, green, fully as long 

 as tube or more. Pedicels almost none, shorter than the minute tri- 

 angular bracts. Peduncles 2-4 cm. long, much shorter than the fruit- 

 ing rachis which is sometimes 1 dm. long, but floral rachis short. 

 Stipules inconspicuous, triangular, about 3 mm. long. Stems very 

 many, rather slender, branching freely above, the outer ones pros- 

 trate the inner erect, flexuous, forming a dense mass 1-3 ft. wide and a 

 foot high. Leaves 3-7 cm. long, the lower petioles rather long, the 

 upper short, very many (the internodes rarely half as long as leaves). 

 Leaflets 5-6 pairs, oblong-elliptical, rather distant. Whole plant even 

 to calyx and bracts hoary with closely appressed very fine, tapering, 

 silky, flat and twisted hairs, which are a little tangled on the young 

 pods and resemblo wool, but mature pods often with scattered pubes- 



