U7 



somewhat ascending, connivent at tip, much longer tlian keel, keel 

 about 1 mm. longer than caly.x, with straight or slightly arched base, 

 and tip abruptly rounded to more than erect so that the deltoid acute 

 apex does not seem at the end, it is also a little darker. Calyx , in the 

 type, about black with dense and appressed hairs, rather gibbous, and 

 ihe tube rather long-campanulate, about 3 mm. long, deeper and broad- 

 I3' cleft above, the triangular teeth half as long as tube or a little more, 

 thelo\sei the longer. Fruiting pedicels 2-5 mm. long, nearly etiualed 

 by the subulate bracts. Peduncles 1-2 dm. long, rather stout, with the 

 floral rachis rarely 1 dm. long, but often 2 dm. long in fruit. T.eaflct? 

 broadly to narrowly elliptical, obtuse to retuse, 8-12 pairs, 2 cm. long 

 or less, loosely strigose-pubescent with spreading fine hairs. L-ower 

 stipules connate, reflexed above. Stems ascending to erect, very sul- 

 cate, about 2 ft. high, rather coarse. Plants growing in gravelly mead- 

 ows in the forests. Middle Temperate life zone, from southern Xtw 

 -Mexico southward throughout Mexico and westward to the Sierra 

 Madres. 



Astragalus itrigulosus var. gracilis Hemsley P)ot. Cent. .Am. 1 266 

 (I88I)). This is a less pubescent form with rather few oblong pods 

 and with racemes rarely over 5 cm. long, and shorter peduncles and 

 slender stems. This is the more common form northward. 



Astragalus strigulosus var. brevidentatus Hemsley 1. c. A. Rusbyi 

 Greene. This is an almost smooth form with linear pods about 3 cm. 

 long, uncolored and smooth, with loosely racemose flowers about 5 

 mm. long. Calyx teeth deltoid and a third to a fourth the ashy tube. 

 Leaflets oval to narrowly elliptical, rarely 1 cm. long. Frequent in 

 the San Francisco forest of northern .\rizona and eastward to the Sac- 

 ramento mountains of .Mew Mexico, southward to central Mexico. It 

 it seems quite distinct but intergrades freely with the other forms. 



144 Astragalus Brandegci Porter Fl. Col. 24 (1874). Pods papery, 

 rounded at tip, apprcsscd-hoary to puberulent, reflexed but appearing 

 ascending when the peduncles are prostrate, very few and widely scat- 

 tered, 1-1.5 cm. long, 4-7 mm. wide, about 3 mm. high, very shallow- 

 sulcate, narrowed below, filled with the few large seeds, with uneven 

 sides due to the bulging sutures, neither suture prominent but the dor- 

 sal straight and pod flat on that side, the ventral suture arched, cross- 

 section a flattened oval, septum not quite complete toward the tip. 

 Flowers white. Banner arched abruptly at end of calyx teeth to 9U- 

 100 degrees, oval, 1 mm. longer than keel, 4 mm. long, about 3 mm. 

 wide, deepb' notched, the groove forming a very broad arc of a circle 

 and with a fine cleft along the middle, sides reflexed for about one 

 half mm. wide on the margins so that the banner is almost taken up 

 by the groove which is 2 mm. wide and goes to the base of blade. The 

 wings oblong-obUnceolate, broad, arched to 60 degrees, a trifle longer 

 than keel and concave to it, the left hand one flaring and the other one 

 folded over the keel's end. Keel very short, straight, with tip sharjily 

 incurved to 135 degrees, barely surpassing calyx, 2 mm. high, with the 

 purple tip erect and produced but barely acute. Calyx tube turbinate, 

 hairy, a little shorter than the subulate and spreading teeth, not over 

 2 mm. long. Pedicels slender, 4-7 mm. long. Bracts minute and 

 ovate. Peduncles erect, flexuous, much longer than the leaves, 1-2 

 •dm. long, filiform and weak. Leaves 5-7 cm. long, very lax and with 

 distant leaflets which are linear but appear filiform (because they are 

 folde.'). about 5 pairs, involute, smooth above, 1-2 cm. long. Stipules 

 adnate. apparently free, green, large for the plant. .Stems densely caes- 

 pilose and much branched at very base, prostrate, almost filiform, 

 many, straggling outward a foot or two, flexuous, from slender, erect 

 roots This is one of the most delicate Astragali. It grows in sard, 

 gravel, and clay, abounds under oak brush on the slopes of the Wa- 

 satch plateau and grows luxuriantly in abandoned fields in open i)laces 

 in poor clay soil. Middle Temperate life zone, and running down a- 

 long streams into ths Lower. From Canon City Colorado to the Wa- 

 satch plateau and southw.-ird to the Mogollons New Mexico. It is in 

 bloom in June. This species has the same prolix habit of the hxst var. 

 of A. atratus. 



