ai6 



above, ending in a short and conical and rather upturned beak, cellu- 

 lar-fleshy when young, coriaceous when dry, deeplj cordate at base, 

 tresh pods almost round in cross-section, very cellular and with close- 

 ly appressed hairs, young pods thin and rather papery, not woody. 

 \ eniral suture a little intruded and thin, but both sutures inconspicu- 

 ous. Flowers brilliant-dark-purple, fading to bluish, with tips darkest, 

 about 2.5 cm. long. Banner oval-ovate, about 1.3 cm long, 3 mm. wide 

 and arcuate to about 3U degrees in a gentle arc from calyx tips, wuli 

 sides retlcxed a little in the middb;, with broad groove forming about 

 a half circle and 3 mm. wide and 2 mm. deep then widening and shal- 

 lowing to a mere groove at tip, white spot reduced to half a dozen 

 white lines low down on each side of the mid-nerve and forming an 

 oblong and truncate to obco; date aiea. Wings a little darker than 

 banner, linear to near the ear, nearly 2 mm. wide and I cm. long and 

 2-4 mm. longer than keel, concave to keel and horizontal at tip as in \ 

 amphioxys, mostly declined, rounded, much narrower than the keel 

 and with tips mostly touching and one of them not flaring, sometimes 

 there are 2 pairs of wings to a flower. Keel narrow, gently arched 

 beyond the middle to 45 degrees or rarely more, wit i tip much roun- 

 ded, about 2 mm. wide near tip, a little shorter than wings xnd 4-6 

 mm. shorter than banner, straight. Calyx reddish, a little inflated be- 

 low and narrowed at tip, barely flattened laterally, the upper side a 

 little arched, nearlj' truncate l)elow and only a little obliciuely inserted, 

 about 1 cm long and 3-4 mm. high, v>hite with very fine and rather long 

 and loosely appressed hairs, the teeth 2-4 mm. long, subulate and lath- 

 er lax. Bracts hyaline, hairy, subulate, 4-6 mm. long, twice as long as 

 the stout pedicels. Peduncles hardly as long as the calyx Un the 

 tj^pe), very stout, even the flowers not exserted beyond the leaves. 

 Leaves short, rosulate. many, with petioles often so short as to be al- 

 most undiscernible, but generally conspicuous and longer than the ra- 

 chis and stout. Leaflets 2-3 pairs, obovate, thick, apiculate, densely 

 and closely appressed-hoary-hairy with fine hairs, shortly petiolulate, 

 contiguous, 5-10 mm. long. Stipules ovate. Acaulescent plants with 

 very thick crowns and closely imbricated stipules, forming very dense 

 and small tufts, short-lived perennials from erect roots with few- 

 crowns. Pubescence soft and fine, rather long, dense, white, shaggy 

 on the pods, with slender and somewhat flattened and warty hairs. 

 The above is the type character only. It is a very variable species, 

 the forms being due to shade more than any other ecological factor. 

 It (the type) grows only in very open and warm places where the soil 

 is inclined to be clayey and poor. Lower Temperate life zone, scarce 

 in the southern part of the Navajo Basin, common from Richfield to 

 Marysvale Utah on the Sevier and over to Cove Cr«ek and less common 

 to Pioche Nevada, Peach Springs Arizona and eastward to the Little 

 Colorado. 



Astragalus Purshii X Newberryi. This hybrid has narrowed and 

 curved pods, more slender petioles, smaller flowers, and rather loose 

 pubescence. This grows on the Sevier. 



Astragalus Purshii X Watsonianus. This has the leaf and pubes- 

 cence characters of the var. Watsonianus but the other characters of 

 Purshii. This grows in eastern Nevada. 



Astragalus Newberryi var, Watsonianus (Kunsze) Jones Cont. 1(1 

 68 (19t)2). Tragacantha Watsoniana Kuntze Rev. Gen. 2 942 (1891). 

 A. eriocarpus Watson. Watson's typ^ is an over-developed plant 

 growing in the shade of the sagebrush, in which the peduncles and 

 leaves were relatively much elongated. The pod.s are cordate-ov<ate 

 and about 1 cm. long, with lunate-half-oval longitudinal-section and 

 semicircular cross-section below, then it isabruptly contracted into a 

 stibconical beak half as long as the body and which is, erect and very 

 sharp, the pods ai'« shallow-sulcate ventrally at base and somewhat 

 but not conspicuously inflated as in the type species, and about half its 

 size, the pubescence about 2 mm. long and spreading at right angles 



