120 Inflati 



long, oblong-oval to oblong-ovate, sulcate ventrally and a little ob- 

 lique, prow-like tipped, rather truncate at the somewhat narrowed or 

 abruptly rounded base, round to oval-reniform in cross section, with 

 stipe 2-7 mm. long but shorter than calyx. Ventral suture a mere 

 sharp-edged line externally. Flowers 2.5 cm. long, white, thin. Banner 

 narrowly-oval, about 1 cm. long nearly flat, arched abruptly to 80 

 degrees or erect at the end of calyx tube or teeth and with very 

 broad groove. Wings linear, nearly straight, rounded, about 1-2 mm. 

 wide and 3-4 mm. shorter than the banner, and nearly as much longer 

 than keel, concave to keel and flaring. White spot of banner trian- 

 gular and with obscure purple veins going nearly to the upper third of 

 banner. Keel about 3 mm. long and high, but little surpassing calyx, 

 arched to a half circle from base, the tip triangular and obtuse and a 

 little darker colored. Calyx tube cylindrical, nigrescent with scattered 

 and very short hairs, about 1 cm. long and 3-4 mm. high, a little flat- 

 tened laterally, narrowed a little at tip and deeper cleft with a sharp 

 sinus, the upper side a little convex in the middle with the base 

 straight, deltoid and fleshy and attached just below the middle of the 

 end, teeth narrowly triangular and about half as long as tube. Pedi- 

 cels 5-8 mm. long, mostly bracteate, several times as long as the 

 ovate to triangular bracts. Peduncles almost none in flower, about 

 5-8 cm. long in fruit, filiform, with a few ascending and racemose flow- 

 ers close together near the end. Leaves 1-1.5 dm. long, narrow. Peti 

 oles nearly half the whole and persisting for several years at the crown 

 Leaflets thin, oval to elliptical and tending to ovate and notched, 

 about 1 cm. long, shortly cuneate and petiolulate. Stems prostrate :'n 

 small tufts, many, only a few inches long, from a stout and long fleshy 

 root. Stipules inclined to be imbricated, triangular, hyaline, very 

 broad below and short, not over 5 mm. long. This grows in the 

 bad lands of Wyoming north of the Uintas to Sapinero Colorado around 

 the edges of the Navajo Basin in the Lower Temperate life zone on 

 the poorest of clay soil in little gulches mostly, and on sharp slopes 

 where there Is a little alkali. It blooms very early in the spring, and 

 the enormous pods (the largest in the genus) which are wholly out 

 of proix)rtion to the size of the plants soon blow off and lodge in the 

 surrounding tufts of grass or weeds. It is a very variable species. 



Astragalus megacarpus van. Parry! Gray Bot. Cal. 1 148 (1876). 

 A- megacarpus var. prodigus Sheldon. This differs in no ])articular 

 from the species except that the flowers are 1.5 cm. long and pur])le- 

 tipped with banner beautifully purple-veined, wings linear-oblanceo- 

 late and about 2 mm. wide and keel base straight and purple-tip])ed. 

 Calyx tube 5-6 mm. long, rather narrowed below and teeth often only 

 a third the tube and triangular. The pubescence varies from none to 

 densely hoary with rough and very short and appressed hairs on the 

 younger parts. Leaflets about 5 mm. long and round to oblong, 

 notched to apiculate. Pods generally smaller. Theodore, Gunnison, 

 Vermilion, Sevier Bridge, Cedar City, Elk Ranch on the upper Vir- 

 gin Utah. Lenimon, Rusby and Toumey also collected it in northern 

 Arizona around the San Francisco peaks. This grows under oak 

 brush near Tropic, but in other places in draws of the barren clay 

 slopes of the Tertiary clay strata, locally abundant, but rare gen- 

 erally. Rusby's flowers are yellow when dry. 



76 Astragalus oophorus Watson Bot. King 73 (1871). A. artipea 

 Gray, Phaca Rydberg. Pods obliquely oval-ovate, about 3 cm. long 

 and 2 cm. wide and nearly as high, papery to nearly coriaceous, either 

 flattish on the ventral suture or somewhat sulcate, the suture straight 

 or a little convex, apiculate, deltoid to triangular-tipped, either trun- 

 cate or deltoid at base, drooping, cross section cordate-obovate, ven- 

 tral auttire raised as a thin wing 2 mm. high or varying to a sharp 

 edge only, inclined to be upcurved, pod often boat-shaped and then a 

 little laterally flattened, Jointed to stipe at base or somewhat produced 



