178 RYDBERG: NOTES ON FABACEAE—I 
for the sake of convenience. He has not treated me more 
harshly in this respect than he has others; for he has reduced 
to varieties or synonyms the species of other botanists, such as 
Astragalus lingulatus Sheld., A. exiliflorus A. Nels., Homolobus 
caespitosus Nutt., H. canescens Nutt., H. brachycarpus Nutt., 
A. amphidoxus Blankinship, H. dispar Nutt., H. junceus Nutt., 
A. junciformis A. Nels., A. diversifolius Gray, A. strigosus 
Coult. & Fish., A. Palliseri Gray, and A. acerbus Sheld. 
this way he has reduced half of Nuttall’s species, all of A. 
Nelson’s and all but one of Sheldon’s. Is such a reduction 
warranted? 
I once criticised Brand for his work on the Polemoniaceae, 
because he did not try to find what the types really represented. 
May I not now have the right to criticise Macbride for the 
same laxities? In his paper on Homalobus he reduced my H. 
microcarpus, H. proximus, and H. Salidae, although he admitted 
that he had not seen the types; he reduced also my H. Clementis, 
H. stipitatus and H. uniflorus, without including the types 
among the specimens cited, thus implying that he did not have 
them before him. The same can be said about Sheldon’s 
Astragalus lingulatus and A. acerbus. Except in the case of A. 
lingulatus the types of all these species are readily accessible to 
anyone who may wish to see them. 
As I have not found it necessary to change essentially my 
grouping of the species from that published in my Flora of the 
Rocky Mountains, I shall keep the same groups as there. I 
shall also omit the keys except in cases where the species are 
from the Pacific coast. Keys would be superfluous, since my 
own are found in my Flora of the Rocky Mountains and since 
Macbride has given a good one in the paper cited above. 
A. CAESPITOSI 
1. HoMALoBuUS CAEsPITOsuUs Nutt. This is the most common 
and best known of the group, and its nomenclature has not 
been much confused. Occasionally the leaves are two- or three- 
foliolate instead of simple. H. canescens Nutt. is only a more 
silvery form of the species. Gray, who merged Homoiobus 
in Astragalus, recognized the identity of the two, retaining 
the specific name caespitosus, although there was an earlier 
