Astragalus. LEGUMINOS^. 173 



obtuse ; peduncles about as long as the leaves ; spikes oblong or elongated ; bracts subulate, 

 nearly as long as the calyx ; flowers (ochroleucous) spreading and partly reflexed ; legumes 

 ovate-oblong, terete, erect, coriaceous, smooth, 2-celled, many-seeded ; the upper suture 

 prominent and acute. — Willd. sp. 3. p. 1274 ; " Dodar. mem. t. 64 ;" Pursh, fl. 2. -p. 472 ; 

 Ell. sk. 2. p. 227 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 93 ; Hook. ft. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 152 ; Torr. ^ Ch: fl. N. 

 Am. 1. p. 33. A. Carolinianus, Limi. ; Michx.fl. 2. p. 66 ; Pursh, I. c. ; Ell. I. c. ; DC. I. c. 



Root perennial. Stem 1-3 feet high, robust, with somewhat erect branches. Leaflets 

 from three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half long, nearly smooth above, pubescent 

 underneath ; the hairs fixed by the middle. Spikes erect, at first ovate and only about an 

 inch long, finally cylindrical and 2 - 4 inches or more in length. Flowers three-fourths of an 

 inch long, yellowish-white. Teeth of the calyx scarcely one-fourth the length of the tube. 

 Legumes sessile, 5-6 lines long and 2-3 lines in diameter, abruptly pointed with the 

 remains of the style, forming a compact head or spike, perfectly 2-celled. Seeds 10 - 15, 

 reniform, compressed, light brown. 



Banks of rivers and lakes ; chiefly in the northern and western counties ; not found below 

 Hudson. Fl. June - August. — No other Astragalus has hitherto been found within the 

 limits of New- York. Forty other species are natives of North America, chiefly in the regions 

 west of the Mississippi and in British America. 



15. PIIACA. Linn.; Endl. gen. 6571. bastard vetch 



[ From phale or phakos, the Greek name for lentil.] 



Calyx 5-toothed or 5-cleft ; the 2 upper teeth often a little remote from each other. Keel 

 obtuse. Legume mostly turgid or inflated, one-celled, the upper (placental) suture some- 

 what tumid. — Mostly perennial herbs, with axillary pedunculate racemes. Legumes, when 

 mature, often resupinate by the twisting of the pedicels. 



1. PiiACA NEGLECTA, Torr. S)' Gr. (Plate XXVI.) Bastard Vetch. 



Plant nearly smooth ; stem erect, branching ; leaflets 6-10 pairs, elliptical, often emargi- 

 nate, smooth above, pubescent with appressed hairs underneath ; stipules triangular-ovate ; 

 peduncles about the length of the leaves ; spikes oblong, many-flowered ; calyx campanulate, 

 pubescent with blackish hairs, the subulate teeth much shorter than the tube ; legume sessile, 

 globose-ovoid, pointed, coriaceo-membranaceous, flattened on the upper side, and deeply 

 grooved by the introflexion of the ventral sutjre. — Torr. ^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. ;}. 344. 



Root perennial. Stem 1 - 2 feet high, rather slender, terete, sparingly branched. Leaflets 

 about three-fourths of an inch long and one-fourth of an inch wide, each with short partial 

 petioles. Hairs of the pubescence fixed by the middle. Stipules 2-3 lines long. Peduncles 

 somewhat spreading, slender. Spikes 15 - 25-flowcrcd ; the flowers about as large as in 

 Astragalus Canadensis, while. Legumes three-fourths of an inch long and half an inch in 



