86 LEGUMINOS^. 



* * * Rachls dilated, ending in a rudimentary odd leaflet. 



5. L. littoralis (Nutt.), Endl. Stout and low, decumbent, densely 

 silky-villous : stipules large, ovate or semihastate; leaflets 1 3 pairs, 

 cuneate-oblong, % in. long or more: peduncles exceeding the leaves; 

 calyx-teeth nearly equal, about as long as the tube: corolla % % in. 

 long, banner bright purple, wings and keel white: pod large, oblong, 

 obtuse, villous, 3 5-seeded. Strictly maritime, in sandy or clayey soil 

 within reach of the sea-spray. 



4. ASTRAGALUS, Diosc. (BATTLE-WEED, LOCO-WEED). Herbs 

 either erect or decumbent, with unequally pinnate leaves, no tendrils, 

 persistent stipules, and axillary spikes or racemes of flowers which are 

 usually small for the size of the plant, and rather narrow. Calyx 

 5-toothed. Petals with slender claws, the keel obtuse. Stamens diadel- 

 phous, (9 and 1); anthers uniform. Stigma terminal, minute. Pod 

 various, seldom or never promptly dehiscent, often coriaceous and turgid, 

 or thin and bladdery-inflated, or thin and flat; 1-celled, or partly 2-celled 

 by intrusion of one or both sutures. Seeds few or many, small for the 

 size of the pod, commonly reniform, on slender funiculi. 



* Annuals. 



1. A. didymocarpns, Hook. & Arn. Slender, pubescent, 1 ft. high: 

 leaflets 915, cuneate-oblong to linear, emarginate, 35 lines long: 

 spikes long-peduncled, dense, ovate or oblong: fl. small, dull purplish: 

 pods erect, 2 lines long, and about as broad, scarcely exserted from the 

 calyx, strongly wrinkled, 2-celled, 2-seeded. Abundant along the eastern 

 base of Mt. Diablo Range and far southward. 



2. A. nigrescens, Nutt. Smaller than the last, more slender, less 

 pubescent, the less dense spikes cylindrical: pods deflexed, well exserted 

 from the calyx, slightly wrinkled, strongly obcompressed. Common on 

 sterile gravelly hill-sides of the Bay region; the flowers commonly 

 minute and dull, but on the flanks of Mt. Tamalpais and northward 

 larger and violet. April June. 



3. A. tener, Gray. Slender, sparsely pubescent, 610 in. high: 

 leaflets 915, linear or cuneate, acute or retuse: fl. many, capitate on a 

 slender peduncle, purple: pod % in, long, slender, incurved, 2-celled, 

 5 10-seeded. In moist lands, either sandy or alluvial. A handsome 

 species; the heads of purple and white recalling those of some kinds of 

 clover. April, May. 



4. A. Breweri, Gray. Smaller than the last, relatively stouter, 

 leaflets broader, heads few-flowered: pods with a short body and a very 

 long incurved beak. Common in fields of the Sonoma valley. 



