Reventi-Arrecti. 161 



117. Astragalus arrectus Gray Proc. Am. Acad. 8 289 (1870) A. 

 leucophyllus Hooker, atropubescens C. and F., A. Palousensis Piper, 

 A. Cusickii Rydberg not Gray, A. Malheurensis Heller, Phaca Piper. 

 This is a very variable species and the type will be described first. 

 Pods nearly linear, appressed, about 2 cm. long and 3 mm. wide, cor- 

 iaceous, smooth, acute at both ends, the ventral suture straight or a 

 little concave in the middle but much humped at the end, raised as 

 a heavy line throughout, dorsal suture variously intruded as a thin 

 partition, and pod deeply sulcate. Stipe hardly as long as calyx 

 and straight. Flowers white, or ochroleucous, about 1.5 cm. long. 

 Banner fleshy at base and very stubby, oval, the erect part a mere 

 margin about 1-2 mm. wide, about as long as keel and decidely shorter 

 than the wings. Wings rather broadly oblong, notched, straight, 2-4 

 mm. longer than keel, about 2 mm. wide. Keel about half a circle 3 

 mm. high and long, the tip acute and a little more than erect, not 

 colored. All the petals with exserted claws. Calyx campanulate and 

 narrower below, rather obliquely inserted on a stout and very short 

 pedicel, oblique at mouth and deeper cleft above, nigrescent (especial- 

 ly on the teeth) with appressed short hairs, teeth nearly deltoid 

 and nearly half as long as tube. Bracts minute, longer than the 

 pedicels, triangular-ovate. Peduncles about a foot long, strict, the 

 tloral rachis in fruit 1-2 dm. long, almost as stout as stems. Leaves 

 1-2 dm. long, the upper nearly sessile, with 6-15 pairs of nearly linear 

 to broadly elliptical, refuse leaflets cuneate below, which are ashy 

 be^ow with short and tangled hairs and rarely 2 cm. long. The young 

 leaflets are mostly linear and dark, the mature leaflets are often 

 ovate-elliptical and green, especially on the upper leaves which are 

 the largest. Stems often a foot high and with several slender inter- 

 nodes, from woody roots. This is exactly A. Palousensis Piper. It is 

 common in the Columbia Basin, Middle Temperate life zone on 

 prairies. A. atropubescens C. and F. nearly smooth forms with 

 zigzag stems, oblong leaflets, leaves often a foot long, pedicels longer 

 than the bracts and with the calyx horizontal, and a curved stipe a 

 little longpr than calyx bringing the erect pod within half its length 

 of the rachis, the banner is prodaced and triangular-ovate, erect and 

 2-4 mm. longer than the keel. This form abounds on the headwaters 

 of the Missoula in Deer Lodge valley and vicinity. A. Cusickii Ryd- 

 berg A. Malheurensis Heller is near the var. Kelseyi but with linear 

 leaflets and its long stipe. This abounds in the Snake River valley from 

 Glenns Ferry west, though most of the forms are referable to the 

 variety. 



Astragri'i-n arrectus var. Leibergi Jones Cont. 7 663 (1S95) as 

 species, and 10 68 (1902). Phaca arrecta var. Leibergi (Jones) Piper. 

 This is a form with narrowly linear to almost filiform ashy leaflets, 

 scapcse peduncles a foot long and with rachis a half more, with 

 tvpical pods, and with leaves nearly a foot long all clustered at the 

 root which is a mass of knotty crowns. This is a striking form but 

 not a good species. Egbert Spring's Douglas Co. Wash. Leiberg. 



Astragalus arrectus var. Kelseyi (Rydberg PI. Mont. 241 1900 as 

 species) A. ere-niticus var., '^rencianua ^^nes A. Boiseanus Nelson. 

 This has nearly straight stems a foot or two long, leaflets ova'te-oblong 

 to oblong, rather glaucous, about 10 pairs, stem leaves with very short 

 petioles, peduncles in the axils of the upi^er leaves and shorther than 

 they, with rather few pods near the puds, flowers white or purplish and 

 keel generally purple tipped with the banner elongated as in atropu- 

 bescens, calyx tube 1 mm. long, cylindrical and the teeth hardly a fourth 

 r'.s long, the flowers horizontal and calyx reflexed more or less in fruit, 

 tr^e pod being erect on a long and tapering stipe about half as 

 long as body which 2-3 cm. long. This is the common form on the dry 

 juniper benches of Nevada from Battle Mountain to the Utah line and 



