CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY. 639 



arched than the dorsal and a trifle sulcate at times, other- 

 wise cross-section round, chartaceous, much inflated, 

 jointed at base but sessile or with stipe shorter than 

 broad, i-celled, reflexed or spreading; flowers ascending. 



Astragalus debilis (Nutt.) Gray. Mr. Sheldon seems 

 to have renamed this species under the name of A . 

 Bodini, without noticing their similarity. Having seen a 

 duplicate type specimen I discover that Mr. Sheldon's 

 description is very inaccurate. He says pod "flat"; 

 " species nearest to Astragalus tenellus Pursh, but the 

 habit is more nearly that of Astragalus jlexuosus Doug- 

 las." In fact the specimens on which Mr. Sheldon bases 

 his species are so near to A. leftaleus that it is very dif- 

 ficult to separate them. The species has no relation to 

 the Ho?nalobi. The pods are triangular or nearly round 

 in cross-section. Below I append a description from my 

 field notes of the same species. Ward also collected it 

 long ago in the same locality as mine and distributed it as 

 A. oroboides. 



Astragalus debilis (Nutt.) Gray. 



No. 5649. Loa, Utah, 7000° alt., in clayey meadows, 

 July 18, 1894. 



No. 5709b. August I, 1894, same locality. 



Prostrate, in open mats, often 3° in diameter, from an 

 erect and woody root; stems very slender; stipules large, 

 foliaceous, triangular, mostly reflexed, 4" long, 2" wide; 

 leaflets oval to lanceolate, acute; peduncles slender, 2-4' 

 long, surpassing the leaves, capitately flowered and spicate 

 in fruit, but spike short; pedicel short, stout and black, y^' 

 long; bracts green, lanceolate, i|" long; flowers 3-4" long, 

 light purple, numerous, spreading, the pedicel inclined to 

 be twisted in fruit; calyx tube i|" long, almost cylindrical, 

 but a little compressed below and obcompressed above on 

 the deeper cleft upper side, hyaline, nigrescent with short. 



