December 20, 1905 ^7 



perfect, crowded in usually short-cylindrical heads. Calyx 

 somewhat campanulate, the lobes about equal. Corolla some 

 shade of purple or violet, very small, barely 2 mm. long. Sta- 

 mens 10; filaments diadelphous; anthers alike. Ovary .sessile. 

 Ovules two only. Pod broadly ovoid, about as broad as long 

 (2-3 mm), didymous, 2-celled and 2-seeded, the .seeds about fill- 

 ing the cavity. 



Type Astragalus didytnocarpus H. & A. 



Hesperastriij^alus clidyinocarpus (H. & A.) 



Astragalus didynnocarpus H. & A. Bot. Beech. 334. 1840. 



Tragacantha didyniocarpa Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 944. 

 1891. 



No. 7600, collected April 6, on the rising plain northeast of 

 Kern, Kern county, in gravelly ground. The flowers in these 

 specimens were a reddish purple, the branches ascending or 

 erect. The type was evidently collected somewhere south of 

 Montrey, as it does not occur as far north as the Bay region. 



Hesperastragtilus gambelliaiius (Sheldon) 



Astragalus gambellianus Sheldon, Minn. Bot. Stud. 1: 19. 



1894. 

 Astragalus nigresccns Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. II. 1: 152. 



1848; not Pall. 1800. 

 A single specimen of this species was picked up at the river 

 bridge near Redding, Shasta county, growing in gravel and 

 sand. It is a much more diffuse plant than H. didymocaipus^ 

 the lower branches usually decumbent, the flowers more blue in 

 color, not so dense, and the pods larger, not so deeply lobed, de- 

 flexed, much longer than the calyx; characters exactly the oppo- 

 site of the other species. The type was collected by Gambel on 

 Santa Catalina island, but it is common in the region about San 

 Francisco. 



