1929] 



FABACEAE: GALEGEAE 



Astragalus striatiflorus M. E. Jones, Contr. W. Bot. 7: 643. 1835. The type has not 

 been seen, but according to Jones himself it is a synonym of Phaca Silerana (see page 351). 



Astragalus Suksdorfii Howell, Erythea 1: l\f. 1893. A synonym omitted under Phaca 

 Pulsiferae (see page 357) . 



58. HESPERASTRAGALUS A. Heller, Muhlenbergia 2 : 86. 1905. 



Astragalus § Microlobium Nutt. Jour. Acad. Phila. II. 1: 152. 184S. 



Slender annuals, or rarely (in the Mexican species) perennials. Leaves alternate, odd- 

 pinnate, the stipules distinct and almost free from the petioles. Flowers perfect, in dense 

 racemes or spikes, with minute bracts and very short pedicels. Calyx-tube hemispheric or 

 short-cam panulate ; teeth nearly equal, mostly subulate. Corolla small. Banner oblanceolate, 

 often claw-less, usually retuse or notched at the apex. Wings shorter, the blade equaling or 

 exceeding the claw, mostly oblong, more or less falcate, with a large basal auricle. Keel- 

 petals shorter, the blade lunate to semi-orbicular, often shorter than the claw, and with a small 

 auricle. Stamens diadelphous (9 and 1), the sheath nearly straight, the free portion of the 

 filaments abruptly bent upwards. Pistil sessile or nearly so, the ovary short, with 1-4 ovules 

 in each cell, the style glabrous, the stigma capitate, terminal. Pod completely 2-celled, in 

 fruit reflexed, short, coriaceous, almost didymous, usually with 1-3 seeds in each cell and almost 

 filling it, the valves more or less cross-veined or cross-ribbed, indehiscent. 



Type species, Astragalus didymocarpus H. & A. 



Pod decidedly longer than broad, broadest below the middle and tapering at 



the apex. 1. Reflexi. 



Pod about as broad as long or broader, rounded and merely mucronate at the apex. 



Body of the pod fully 5 mm. long. 2. Diphaci. 



Body of the pod about 3.5 mm. long or less. 3. Didymocarpi. 



1. Reflexi 



Annual; leaflets obovate, deeply retuse at the apex. 

 Perennial, with a creeping rootstock ; leaflets linear-oblong. 



1. H. refiexus. 



2. H. oxyrhynchus. 



2. Diphaci 



Pod strigulose, subsessile; leaflets linear, obtuse or acutish. 



Plant green; corolla white. 



Plant canescent; corolla yellowish. 

 Pod glabrous, distinctly stipitate, the stipe about equaling the calyx; 

 leaflets obovate, retuse. 



3. Didymocarpi 

 Calyx white-hairy. 



Pod short -pubescent, strongly rugose; leaflets more or less cuneate, deeply 



retuse. 

 Pod glabrous, not strongly rugose; leaflets oblong, not retuse. 

 Calyx black -hairy. 



Pod pubescent; corolla less than 7 mm. long. 



Leaflets oblong or cuneate, not deeply emarginate. 



Pod densely pubescent with appressed hairs, not strongly rugose; 



racemes elongate, linear. 

 Pod with spreading pubescence; racemes short, rounded to oblong. 

 Pod rather densely long-hairy; corolla 4-5 mm. long. 

 Flowers subsessile in a dense head ; pod not reflexed. 

 Flowers short -pedicelled; raceme in fruit slightly elongate; 

 pod reflexed. 

 Pod short-pubescent; corolla 6-7 mm. long. 

 Leaflets linear, usually deeply emarginate. 

 Pod glabrous; corolla about 10 mm. long. 



3. H. diphacus. 



4. H. peonis. 



5. H. brazoensis. 



6. H . dispermus. 



7. H . obispensis. 



8. H. Elmeri. 



9. H. 



•ipactus. 



10. H. Gambelliamis. 



11. H. didymocarpus. 



12. H. catalinensis. 



13. H. Milesianus. 



1. Hesperastragalus refiexus (T. & G.) Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 

 53: 165. 1926. 



Astragalus refiexus T. & G. Fl. N. Am. 1: 334. 1838. 

 Tragacanlha refiexa Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 947. 1891. 



A slender annual; stem branched at the base, 1-3 dm. high, sparingly pilose or glabrate; 

 leaves ascending, 3-7 cm. long, the rachis slender, sparingly pilose; stipules deltoid, acuminate, 



