136 Afpini. 



lacerate edge, 1 mm. wide. Flowers white with purple tips, 

 about 1 cm. long, arched, widely spreading. Banner nearly round, 

 about 8 mm. long, 7 mm. wide, about 2 mm. longer than wings, with 

 sides reflexed below. Wings deeply notched, broadly oblong, 7 mm. 

 long, 2 mm. wide, a little longer than keel. Keel with rather straight 

 base, then abruptly curved to a half circle, very thick, purple and very 

 obtuse. Calyx tube about 3 mm. long, nigrescent, oblique and nar- 

 rowed below to the slender pedicel which is 2 mm long, with teeth tri- 

 angular-subulate, spreading and over half as long as tube. Pedun- 

 cles about 7 cm. long, longer than leaves, rather stout, the rachis 

 about half .ns long. Leaves and stipules as in A. aboriginum, closely 

 sessile and with 5-6 pairs of leaflets which are elliptical, about 1.2 

 cm. long and 4 mm. wide, and barely acute. Stems branched and 

 many from the crown. Pubescence softly and rather sparsely woolly. 

 On the alpine summits of the Olympic Mts. Washington, Elmer. This 

 seems more like an extreme form of A. aboriginum than a good species. 



89. Astragalus alpinus (L.) Sheldon Minn. Bot. Stud. 9 65 (1894). 

 Phaca alpina L. 755. A. frigidus (L.) Gray. Pods nigrescent, very 

 gibbous, acute at both end3, oblong 2-3 cm. long, often 1 cm. wide, on 

 a stipe hardly as long as calyx, inclined to be sulcate dorsally, con- 

 spicuously inflated. Flowers few to many, broad, short and stubby, 

 about 1.5 cm. long. Petals all about equal, with fleshy claws. Ban- 

 ner gently arched to 45 degrees ? mm. beyond calyx teeth, with sides 

 reflexed toward the tip about 2 mm. wide. Wings oblanceolate, 2 mm. 

 wide, nearly straight, half as wide as the lunate keel. Keel broad, ob- 

 tuse. Calyx tube about 5-7 mm. long, 2 mm. high, the teeth variabl'^ 

 from a mere rudiment to shortly triangular. Bracts 7-10 mm. Ions:. 

 Leaves 4-7 cm. long, even the upper shortpetioled, the lower ones with 

 petioles longer than the adjoining leaflet. The rachis grooved. Leaf- 

 lets 4-5 pairs, mostly oblong-ovate, variably black or white-hairy below, 

 smooth above. Stems stout, about a foot high, erect and little 

 branched, from slender root-branches. Throughout the Arctic regions 

 of the World. In the tyiie the calyx is nearly smooth, the American 

 forms are nearly all the following. Plants growing in the tundra and 

 humus. 



Astragalus alpinus van. jittoralis (Hook.) Sheldon Minn. Bot. Stud. 

 9 133 (.1891), Phaca fri^rida var. littoralis Hook. 71. Bor. Am. 1 140 

 (J 830) A. frigidus var. littoralis (Hook.) Watsnn. Pods elliptical, 

 shortly-acute at both ends, somewhat obcompressed, not sulcate, with 

 stipe 2-3 mm. long. Flowers capitate, cream-colored, with white mar- 

 giris. Banner about 7 mm. long, and 1 mm. longer fnan keel. 

 Wings obovate to narrowly oblong, about 2 mm. wide. Keel rounded 

 and gently arched from base, blunt, about 3 mm. high. Calyx softly 

 black-hairy, the upper side convex, the lower straight, teeth triangu- 

 lar and about half the *iibe or less. Bracts rathei small. 2-7 mm. 

 long. Leaflets hoary below, 3-6 pairs, sparsely woolly, lance-oblong 

 to oblong-oval or ovate, 2-3 cm. long. 4-10 m-u. wide or more, obtu-^e 

 or refuse or even acutish. Stems sulcate, 1-2, 7-10 cm. long in fruit, 

 but hardly 5 cm. long in flower. This is the common Alaskan form. 



90. Astragalus Americanus (Hook.) Jones Cont. 8 8 (1898). Phaca 

 frigida var. Americana Hook. Bor. Am. 1 140 (1830). Phaca Amer- 

 icana Rydberg. A. alpinus var. Americanus (Hook.) Sheldon. Pods 

 smooth and green, very thin, elliptical and triangular-acutp at both 

 ends, the body about 2.5 cm. long and 1 cm. wide, on a stipe about 

 twice as long as calyx, with ventral suture conspicuously arched, 

 with dorsal-suture a little broadly sulcate and a mere rib within, 

 inclined to open first at base, often black with minute hairs when 

 young. Flowers about 1 cm. long, rather many in a dense spike, 

 white, the banner oval and a trifle longer than wings which are 



