Bisulcati. 244 



rarely decumbent at base, 2-3 ft. high, perennial from 

 woody roots. Odor snake-like. Pubescence attached 

 by base, echinate, very short, abruptly appressed. 



KEY. 



A. Pods on a stipe at least as long as calyx and pendent. Calyx 

 tube about 3-4 mm. long, little inflated, both sides about straight. 

 Flowers not stubby. Leaflets not linear. 



Pods oblong or oval. ]-"lo\veis white, in long and lnosc spikes. 



205 Ilaydenianus. 

 Pods linear. Flowers normally purple, in short and dense spikes. 



206 bisulcatus. 

 2A. Pods short-stipitate and wholly inclosed within a large and 

 bladdery calyx. Leaflets linear. Flowers stubby the blades not 

 longer than calyx tube. 



Calyx shaggy and inflated. 207 oocalycis.- 



205. Astragalus Haydenianus Gray in Brandegee's Rep. 235 

 (1876). Pods mostly oval, rarely oblong, rugulosely . cross-nerved, 

 often papery, 7-9 mm. long by nearly 4 mm. wide, very variable in 

 texture, rounded at both ends, obtuse, minutely nigrescent but seem- 

 ingly smooth, 6-7-ovuled, 2-4-seeded, with ventral grooves broad and 

 ventral face widely and deeply impressed, the suture being rib-like 

 and very prominent and often convex. Stipe not longer than the 

 calyx. Flowers white, about 7-9 mm. long. Wings appearing as if 

 shorter than the purple-tipped keel. Mature banner reflexed till the 

 tip nearly touches the calyx, about 9 mm. long. Calyx white and 

 thin, the teeth much shorter than the tube. Spikes in fruit linear and 

 often 3 dm. long and fully twice as long as peduncle but the 

 peduncles sometimes a foot long. Stems slender and weakly ascend- 

 ing, many. Pubescence of barely flattened hairs. Occasional from 

 Palisade, Nevada, to along the Virgin river, Utah, above St. George 

 and along the north side of the Grand Canon and throughout the 

 Navajo Basin, also in southern Wyoming, and along the Rio Grande 

 in New Mexico. Lower Temperate life zone, in rather alkaline 

 places on bottoms, nearly wholly on the Pacific slope. 



Forms of this species which have been described as species or 

 varieties but which do not deserve even varietal rank are as follows: 

 A. Haydenianus var. Nevadensis Jones, which is A. demissus Greene 

 and A. Jepsoni Greene, has the pods not evidently rugulose, about 

 5-seeded, papery, barely acute at each end, elliptical, 9 mm. long, 

 5 mm. wide, or smaller. Proper peduncles barely as long as the 

 leaves. Spikes very long and slender, often 2 dm. long. Leaflets 

 8-10 pairs, thin, obovate to ovate-oblong, very obtuse or retuse. 

 Bracts broadly lanceolate, barely acute. In the forms described 

 by Greene cited above from the same locality the leaflets are linear- 

 oblong and 2 cm. long. 



A. grallator Watson is an abnormal form with distinct stipules 

 acuminate-deltoid, immature pods 7 mm. long, ascending, thin-coria- 

 ceous, nearly glabrous, about as long as calyx, transversely rugose, 

 at first laterally compressed, later becoming obcompressed and tur- 

 gid. Leaflets narrowly oblong, about 10 pairs, 1-2 cm. long Pe- 

 duncles longer than the leaves. Pedicels filiform, 7-9 mm long 

 Flowers 7 mm. long, pale-rose to white. Steamboat Springs, Colo- 

 rado. Var. major Jones. This is a stouter form approaching A bi- 

 sulcatus. Pods spreading, seldom pendent, narrowly-elliptical-oblong, 

 rugulose-veined, straight to curved, 1 cm. long by 3'mm. wide shortly 

 acute at both ends, dorsal suture a little sulcate. Flowers 1 cm. 

 long, narrow. Banner ascending. Claws of wings exserted. Pedi- 



