206 



normally much shorter or absent and plants then acaulesccnt. Stip- ■ 



ules large, triangular to 5ul)ulatc-lanceolate. Crown branches many, ■ 



forming a dense tuft. Common on the plains and foothills of the ^ 



Rockies from central Wyoming and the Laramie plains southward 

 through the mountains at low elevations, westward to Sapinero Col. 

 anil Santa Fee New Mexico and the Plains to the eastward, not in Ari- 

 zona. Middle Temperate life zone in gravelly soil. 



Astragalus Shortianus Var. cyaneus (Gray) Jones Cont. 8 5 (1898) 

 and 10 65 (1902). .A. c) ancus Gray PI. Fend. 34 (1849). This differs 

 from the type in the ovate pods being about 2.5 cm. long, the shorter 

 and wider pubescence not at all shaggy on the calyx, smaller leaves 

 and more condensed habit. Leaflets rarely over 1 cm. long, oval and 

 with cuneate base. Bracts about 4 mm. long. Pedicels about 1 mm. 

 long. Flowers about 1.5 cm. long and short-clawed. Calyx tube 

 about 3 cm. long, the short teeth 2 mm. long The hairs often have a 

 little knob near the base showing a tendency to be fixed above the end 

 as in the next group. This is the common form of the Rio Grande to 

 Texas. A. Shortianus var. minor Gray, in so far as it differs from this 

 is a form of A. Missouriensis whieh intruded sutures and pick-shaped 

 hairs. 



167 Astragalus argophyllus Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1 331 (1838) 

 A. glareosus of most authors, not Douglas. Pod.s very variable, al- 

 ways pubescent with rather loose and not appressed hairs, never really 

 shaggy, fleshy, with pulp about 2 mm. thick and a hard inner woody 

 wall (pulp thinner in southern regions), somewhat wrinkled when dry 

 but with smooth outline when fresh, from nearly round but obliquely 

 iDtaked to oval-ovate and oblong-ovate when large, 5-7 mm. high, 

 about 1 cm. wide and 1.5 cm. long, rarely more, sharply shortly arcuate 

 toward the tip, jointed to the calyx and with a minute stipe when dry 

 and rounded to notched at base, a lit<-le sulcate ventrally, flattish dor- 

 sully and rarely sulcate except at very base where it is inclined to be 

 sulcate at both sutures and obcompressed. but with sutures not in- 

 truded, from very little inflated in the type to much inflated in the var 

 castanaeformis, cavity full of hairs, cross-section about oval, some- 

 times rather didymous when sulcate, vertical longitudinal section ob- 

 long-arcuate. Flowers 1.5-2.5 cm. long, brilliant pink-purple, often 

 deep-blue when dry (due to the alkali in drying papers), narrow, in 

 heads at the ends of slender peduncles, which never exceed the leaves 

 and mostl}' are very much shorter. Claws of petals exserted except 

 ■when old. Banner about 1 cm. long, oblong-oval, dark-pink-purple a- 

 round the edges, stronglv notched, with sides reflexed widely to 45° 

 from calyx tips, with white spot large and coming within 2 mm. of the 

 edge and narrowed below and with ragged edges and red-purple and 

 branching veins. Wings narrowly oblong, 1-3 mm. shorter than the 

 banner and as much longer than the keel, a little arched and narrowed 

 above, 1-2 mm. wide and much narrower than keel, purple-tipped and 

 horizontal at the ends and ol)li(|uely rounded. Keel 5-6 mm. long, 

 with the base straight and gently to abruptlj' arched to erect, the 

 rounded and very obtuse tip somewhat produced and 3 mm. high and 

 1 mm. wide at the end, purple but white below as are the other petals. 

 Calyx very thin and hyaline, narrow, about 1 cm. long, exclusive of 

 the subulate teeth which arc from a third to a fifth as long as the tube 

 2-3 mm. high, 1-2 mm. wide, rather fleshy at base, cleft deeper above 

 and with teeth unequal. Bracts ovate to narrowly lanceolate and con- 

 spicuous, about 5 mm long and at least twice as long as the rather 

 stout and variable pedicels, shaggy but mostly hyaline. Peduncles 

 from almost none to half as long as the leaves, or rareley nearly as 

 long as the leaves, generally spreading on the ground, but sometimes 

 ascending at the tip, the floral rachis rarely 2-4 cm. long in fruit and 

 with few pods. Leaves narrow, rarelj' 1 dm. long, slender, the peti 

 ole proper about half the leaf rachis. Leaflets about 8 pairs, not con 

 tiguous, from lanceolate and very acute to obovatc and apiculate, but 



