iy2 



71 FLEXUOSI. 



Puds coriai-eoiH (rarely papery in A. Sileranus), rather 

 fleshy when fresh, corrugated or cross-ribbed, with both sutures 

 rather t.'iick atid prominent externally but not intruded (some- 

 times a little intruded in A. Sileranus), wholly 1-celled, oval to 

 nearly lineai-, oblique, liorizontal to reflexed on rather stout and 

 short pedicels, ;,inclined to be sulcate ventrally and sometimes dor- 

 sally, variously inflated (scarcely so in A. flexuosus and parviflo- 

 rus). Flowers j)urple, racemose, with campauulate or rarely 

 i^hort-cylindric calyx and short teeth. Leaves wide, nearly sessile. 

 Leaflets '.i-iV })airs, narrow to elliptical, rather distant and loug- 

 l)etiolulate, thick atid foldi-d, mostly retuse and about I cm. long 

 (rarely more). Pubescence ashy throughout with minute, aj)- 

 ])resse(l hairs fixed by the base and often tangled, the >-urface of 

 the leaflets also rougliened. StipulcvS connate below, broad, ra- 

 ther small. Stems blender, decumbent, much branched from tlie 

 much branched crown of the erect and rather sleudcr ro >t. Per- 

 ennials of the Lower and Middle Temperate life zmiics, growing 

 ia gravelly soil in dry places. The natural place f' r tins group is 

 just before the Collini but in a linear arrangement \i comes i ere. 



KEY 



A. Flowers small. Calyx campanulate. Pods small ornearly linear, 

 rarely 3 mm. wide, cross-ribbed, scirccly inflated, about sessile. This 

 approaches the A. sophoroides group in the pods but differs much in 

 flowers and foliage. 

 AB. Pods boat-shaped, hardly twice as long as ■wiie, strongly 

 cross-ribbed, inclined to be bisulcatc ventrally, much ob- 

 compressed, reflexed on twisted pedicels which are as 

 long aa or longer than the bracts, the ventral suture about 

 straight and the tip in line with it. 152 parviflorus. 



A2B. Pods narrowly oblong, 3-4 mm. wide or hijh, sometimes 

 a little wider above, with cross lines faint and fine or pod 

 minutely reticulated, walls thin-coriaceous. Pedicels 

 slender, longer than the bracts, reflexed. Flowers about 

 1 cm. long. Calyx tube about 3 mm. long. 

 Pods short-stipitate, about smooth, higher than wide, 

 ventral suture not convex. Peduncles longer than leaves. 



153 flsxuosuf. 

 Pods seasile. ashy, 3 mm. wide and high, ventral suture 

 conspicuously convex. Pedicels shorter than leaves. 



154 Diehlii. 

 2A, Flowers h rf;e, bright-purple 2-3 cm. long. Calyx short-cyl- 

 indric, atta^ cd by the lower corner, very oblique at tip and 

 truncate bei /. 

 2AB, Pods h.t9,c, 2-3 cm. Ion ;, evidently inflated, mostly 1 cm. 

 wide "or bi^h, very oblique, pendent, in short racemes. 



