203 



thin, r.bliy helow or on the margins, contiguous. Stipules large, green 

 ;,bove, ovate or broader, obtU!-:e, often nearly as large as the adjoin- 

 ing leaflet, veiny, adnate and connate on the petiole side but free or 

 nearly so on the other, in young plants often almost imbricated, near- 

 ly smooth. Stems many, 1-2 ft. long, green. Very abundant through- 

 out Utah, except the Navajo basin, in valleys and on dry mesas in the 

 .-agebrush, never in alkaline soil, also extending to the headwaters of 

 G.een river and the Wind river Alts. Wyo., throughout Idalio to VVei- 

 ser and eastward and northeastward to the Continental Divide, north- 

 v\aid thioagh Montana on both slopes but only on the headwaters of 

 the Columbia drainage particularly the Missoula and J^eer Lodge val- 

 .ey. not elsewh'ere in the Colu.iibia basin, southward to the Virgin riv- 

 er iJiah, westward to eastern Nevada where it is replaced by A. iodan- 

 ihus of which it there appears to be a well-marked varietj'. Lower 

 i'e iiperaLe life zone, extending up into the Middle Temperate life 

 zone l^looming in spring and fruiting in June. 



153 Astragalus iodanthus Watson Bot. King 79 (1871). Pods 

 Ijnear-lanceolate, acuminate, mottled, 3-4 cm. long, arcuate almost to 

 a ci. cle, coaipletely obcompressed e.ccept at very base and the flat 

 and e.i-.iorm tip, broadly sulcate dorsally the suture slightly raised 

 with .-. but a mere line without, the ventral suture a little thickened 

 bu<. lat'e raised, pods about 2 mm. wuie, 2-3 mm. high in the middle, 

 cross-sec. lon almost ftnear, base a little narrowed or tapering but 

 notched and on a minute stipe and inclined to be jointed to it. i^'low- 

 e. s noi uKiily white, rarely light-purple. I'.anner oblong, about 1 cm. 

 long, abruptly erect at calyx tips or nearh' so, sides reflexed most 

 just below the middle and thus malcing banner fiddle-shaped, not re- 

 flexed at tip which is about 5 mm, wide and light-purple to white, the 

 white spot obovate and purp'e-ve':ned, the 1 hide tliin, the groove U- 

 shaped and 1 mm. thick and rapidly slKiIiowing to a mere line obove, 

 the banner deeply notched. Wings ol)lon.--, arched from a little to 15 

 degrees, a trifle larger above and obliciiiely rounded, bluish-purple 

 above when colored, almost flat to keel with the upper side a little 

 concave to it and the lower side the reverse, with flaring tips 2 mm. 

 apart, about as long as banner, 3 mm. longer than keel, about 2 mm. 

 wide, not horizontal. Keel with straight ba^e and abruptly erect tip, 

 rounded, obtuse, purple. Calyx tube about 5 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, 2 

 mm. high, campanulate-cylindrical, not cieft deeper above, teeth tri- 

 angular-subulate, fully half as long as tube which is thin and hyaline 

 and but slightly nigrescent with minute hairs. Pedicels short. Bracts 

 much longer then pedicels, subulate-lanceolate. Flowers in loose 

 heads. Peduncles rather stout, and rarely as long as the leaves. The 

 leaves 5-7 cm. long, with pe'ioles of lower ones much longer than the 

 leaflets, those of the upper leaves shorter than the leaflets. Leaflets 

 about 10 pairs, nearly oval-obovate. about 1 cm. long, green on both 

 sides, sometimes ciliate, obtuse to notched. Stipules triangular, not 

 conspicuous, 2-4 mm. long, only the lower onc^ somewhat enlarged, 

 thin, hyaline, reflexed. .Stems many, flexuous, often nearly pro-trate, 

 1-2 ft. long, from rather slender woody roots. In flower some forms 

 cannot be distinguished from A. lentiginosus. Common in the sage- 

 brush along the eastern slope of the Sierra? about Reno Nevada and 

 extening eastward to Unionville and probably to Palisade though the 

 latter forms have stipules more like the preceding species, and pods a 

 little thicker but otherwise similar. It is probable that the more alka- 

 li and less humidity of western Nevada accounts for the differences of 

 these two species. Lower Temperate life zone. The v.ilves of the 

 pods often curl out like rams horns, hence arose my name "arietinus" 

 \\'atsons name is usually inajipropriate. 



164 Astragalus desperatus Jones Cont. 2 243(1891). Pods from 

 broadlj' ovate to linear-oblong, shaggy with long and spreading hairs 

 but not so as to conceal the surface, so:".ietiines smooth when old and 

 by shedding the pubescence, very variable, 1-2. S cm. long. 3-4 mm. 

 high, 4-7 mm. wide, from triquetrous in cross-section or cordate to 



