97 



Marcus K. Jones in his revision of Astraj^alns (p. 133, 1924) 

 has taken up the name A. labradoricus and has given as syno- 

 nyms A. seciindus Michx., A. Blakei P3j(^leslon, A. Knhhinsii v. 

 Jesupi Sheld., A. Macounii Rydberg. On the following page he 

 referred to it as varieties A. Rohhinsii Oakes and A . Rcbbinsii v. 

 occidentalis S. Wats. On page 135, he added the statement that 

 A. Macounii is a form intermediate between the latter and the 

 true A. labradoricus. He gives no reason for such a conclusicm 

 and none of these forms fulfill the character given by Torrey and 

 Gray who stated that the pod is "half 2-celled." Mr. Jones w^as 

 in this case, as usually, very positive in his statement, even if he 

 was merely guessing. 



Somebody may ask: How could Torrey and Gray add the 

 character given above, when the plant had not been collected 

 since Michaux's and Kohlmeister's (Colmaster's) time? There 

 are in the Torre}^ Herbarium two pods with the following label: 



"[A. alpinus!] Astragalus secundus Mx. Labradoricus DC. 

 Herb. Mx." 



In other words the pods are from the type in Michaux's 

 herbarium in Paris. These pods are light-colored, with minute 

 scattered appressed black hairs, straight on the upper suture, and 

 tapering at each end more than in the typical A. alpinus. They 

 are not like the pods of either A. Blakei, A. Jesupi, A. Robbinsii, 

 or A. Macounii but belongs to the A. alpinus type. They can 

 be matched by several on the type sheets of Fernald's A. alpinus 

 V. Brunetianus, {Fernald 24). (See description in Rhodora 10: 

 51, 1908, or in Gray's New Manual, 516, 1908.) It may be 

 added that sometimes the upper suture is even slightly turned 

 upward. In the typical A. alpinus the tw^o sutures are almost 

 equally convexly curved. In A. labradoricus or A. alpinus 

 Brunetianus, whichever name is preferred, the flowers are usually 

 lighter-colored and the petals comparatively narrower than in 

 the true A. alpinus. 



Fernald states that it represents A. giganteus (Pall.) Sheldon. 

 Sheldon may have included some specimens belonging to A . lab- 

 radoricus in it, but it was based on A. alpinus v. giganteus Pallas 

 of Siberia, which is probably related to A. oroboides. The 

 Rocky Mountain specimens mentioned by Sheldon and also 

 referred to in the Gray's New Manual do not belong to A. 

 labradoricus, which is confined to northern New England and 



