170 



Lima and Deer Lodge valley Montana, and Silver and Medical lakes 

 Washington, and to the main range in Colorado, but not in the Great 

 Basin. Open prairies and mea ows, in gravelly and well drained soil. 

 Middle Temperate life zone. 



This belongs to the same class as A. Onobrychis, leontinqs. and 

 microphj-llus of Europe, as well as adscendens (to which this,] species 

 is generally referred). 



Astragalus nitidus var. robustior (Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 149 1834 

 as adsurgens var.) This is A. striatus Xutt., sulphui escens Rydbcrg. 

 Chandonetii Lunel. Flowers white, in short heads, on elongated pe- 

 duncles. Calyx teeth long. Hardly a good variet3\ Same range. 



Astragalus adsurgens Pallas, to which this species is referred, and 

 which botanists assume is A. La.xmanni DC. doej not have the con- 

 spicuously connate stipules, while Japanese plants (so named but evi- 

 a distinct species) have the connate stipules, but oval leaflets, divari- 

 cate leaves and peduncles which latter are shorter than the leaves. 



This species has many of the characteristics of several groups. I', 

 at once suggests relationship to the LHiginosi by the pubescence and 

 general habit. It appears related to the calycosus and the Spaldirgii 

 groups but it is manifestly closest to A. agrestis, and this is nearest la 

 the Chactodontes which, in turn, are related to the Didymocarpi, ami 

 more remotely to the Micranthi. 



127 Astragalus agrestis Douglas in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 148 

 (1834), A. goniatus Xutt., .A. Carletonis Rydberg. Poris chartaceous. 

 with ventral suture raised and thick and sharp-edged and usually tri 

 angularly and laterally flattened, but in old pods the cross-secton is 

 often reniform. pods ovate to oblong-oval, broad, very blunt at botl: 

 ends, obcompressed. scarcely longer than caly.x, usually white-shaggy, 

 and always white-villous at ti]), oblong, 7-10 mm. long, splitting tl e 

 calyx, in dense heads, with wide dorsal groove and deeply sulcate dor 

 sally, often almost to the ventral suture and with narrow septum. Flow- 

 ers few to many, purple, with white vvings or rarely all white, ereci. 

 12-2(1 mm. long, in dense heads which are oblong to short-cylindric 

 and about 2.5 cm. long. Banner elongated, with obovate blade, about 

 12 mm. long, slightly ascending, a little hooded at tip, abruptly arched 

 at calyx tips to 15-45 degrees, about 4 mm. longer than wings, with 

 sides reflexed a very little: white spot obovate-cuneate,often subulate- 

 tipped, purple-striate and comes within 4 mm. of tip; groove V-shaped 

 and vanishing above. Wings linear-oblong, obliciue, rounded, about 

 4 mm. longer than keel, straight or ascending parallel with the banner, 

 about 1 mm. wide, veined (as are all the petals), with light-])urple base 

 and white above. Keel about three times as long as wide, with the 

 triangular tip barely acute and mostly erect, being rounded in a gentle 

 curve to the tip, purple, 4-5 mm. longer than calyx, str;iight. Calyx 

 cylindric to campanulate-cylindric. 4-7 mm. long, straight, not obliciue, 

 narrowed below, with straight and linear-subulate teeth which arc 

 green and shaggy with variou'^ly mixed black and white hairs, and 

 teeth a half to two thirds as long as tube. Pedicels stout and very 

 short. Bracts oblong to ovate or linear, green, very conspicuous, the 

 lower ones obtuse, the rest acute, often with hyaline margins, about 

 equaling the calyx tube, the louver ones often as large as the leaflets. 

 Peduncles 5-12 cm. long, deeply sulcate, longer than the leaves, erect. 

 Leaves narrow, delicate. 4-10 cm. long, all petioled. Leaflets narrosv- 

 !>• elliptical to oblong or rarely linear, sometimes a trifle narrowed 

 above, truncate to notched, 6-10 pairs. 1-2 cm. long, mostly smootii, 

 often puberulent, flat and thin. Upper stipules the largest, conspicu- 

 ously sheathing, blunt (rarely acute), often 1.5 cm. long, Icaflike. The 

 stems weak and almost filiforni, rarely a foot long, leafy but with 

 slender internodes, with bases interlaced and with filiform under- 

 ground stems and running rooistocks, erect only in dense meadows 

 where supported by grass. Pubescence rather loose, appressed, short, 

 never dense except on the calyx, with hairs fixed by the base. Com- 



