Preussii. 155 



and 3 mm. longer, concave to it, flaring but not horizont;)' 1 u.m. 

 Bhorter than banner. Keel almost exactly that of A. amphloxys, the, 

 long blade fully 7 mm. long' and deep pui-ple, gently arclif' to erect 

 and very obtuse and rounded. Peduncles 1-2 dm. long, 1 uiger tli.vn 

 the leaves, very stout and strict. Leaves 1-1.5 dm. Ion?, with 5-8. 

 pairs of elliptical and rounded to notched leaflets 1-2 cm. '.j-Tig. Stems 

 strict, 2 ft. high, often 1 cm thick, with large hyaline stipules. 

 Though close to A. Preussii this can be readily separa(n:l by the 

 strict coarse stems, spicate flowers, elliptical leaflets, a,;:l Hessile 

 pods. Sandy soil in washes and alkaline ground. From Canon Dia- 

 blo Arizona on the Little Colorado westward to the Sierras and 

 southward through the Mojave desert to Mexico, mostly tropical. 

 The forms outside of the Mojave region are not typical but more 

 like A. Preussii itself in the leaflets, or with smaller flowers. 



112. Astragalus asclepiadoides Jones Cont. 4 17 (1893). .Tonesiel- 

 la Rydberg. This is the most unique species in the genus. Pods 3-5 

 cm. lonp; including the stipe and beak, the body nearly 1.5 cm. Vi ide 

 and his-h^ and about 2-3 cm. long, the conical beak 5-10 miu. long and 

 straight, the stipe 1-1.5 cm. long and obconic at tip and nearly 1 mm. 

 thick and straight. Body abruptly rounded to truncate below and ab- 

 ruptly beaked, coriaceous, mostly purple-stippled, from almnst exactly 

 conical-ovate to obliquely oval-ovate, mostly a little sulcnte ventrally 

 and both sutures a little intruded. Flowers greenish-white, rarely purple 

 tipped, 2 cm. long, narrow, 5-10, about as in A. Preussii but narrower 

 and lighter. Banner with sides reflexed about 2 mm. wide opposite 

 keel only; groove U-shaped, nearly 2 mm. deep and 1 mm. wide, 

 extending nearly to tip, waterlined. Wings oblong-linear, bright- 

 pink-purple al>ove 3 mm. longer thru keel, about 2 mm. wide, close- 

 pressed to keel about to tip then spreading and tips incurved and 

 horizontal, blunt, nearly straight. Keel about 7 mm. long, the base 

 a little convex and tip erect, triangular and about 3 mm. high. Calyx 

 tube about 8 mm. long, 3 mm. wide and tapering below and arched 

 near the base, nearly equally inserted at the triangular-acute fleshy 

 base, cleft much deeper above, black-speckled, teeth triangular and 

 about 2 mm. long. Leaflet leath6ry. glaucous, strongly pinnate-veined, 

 barely acute, appearing as if clasinng but on a petiole about 2 mm. 

 long which is flanked by the hyaline, deltoid to circular 5-7 mm. long 

 stipules like wings. Stems stout, nearly erect, little branched, few 

 from the tip of the rather fleshy and erect root. Internodes shorter 

 than the le-^flets which are overlapping and appressed. Common in 

 the poorest adobe soil from the Uinta Mts. to the Henry Mts. and 

 throup-hout the Nava.io Basin from Price to Grand .Junction. Also on 

 the clay bad lands at Gunnison Utah in Sevier Valley. This does not 

 r-'- w wh-^"" -alkali stands but often there is alkali all round it in 

 a white efflorescence, but it never grows in any but compact soil, 

 and it grows where not even Sarcobatus will exist. 



113. Astragalus Patterson! Gray in Brandegee's Rep. S. W. Colo. 

 ?85 (1876). Ph^'copsis Rydbere. A. diphysus var. albiflorus Gray, 

 A. recedens Greene. This is also a very variable species, the pods 

 in the type are ;'bout 2 cm. long 8 mm. wide and 5 mm. high, straight, 

 oblong, a littl» oblique, the ventral suture about straight and the flat- 

 tish s-'bulate beak 4-0 mm. long and nearly in line with it. pods round- 

 el at bnso, f lintly cross-ribbed and low reticulated, with a tendency 

 to be contracted in the middle, on very stout pedicels 2-3 mm. iong. 

 erect, inclined to be a little sulcate at both sutures, but the sutures 

 T Ked and thick externally. Leaves drying yellowish. Banner ob- 

 long-ovate, about 1 cm. long, arched in gentle arc to erect beyond calyx, 

 Fides much refleved and so seemingly very narrow. Wings about 

 1 mm. wide, 2-3 mm. longer than keel and about straight. Keel about 

 4 mm. long and high, with abruptly erect tip triangular, with exsert- 



