66 PLANTS WKIGHTIAN^. T. 



365 ; and west of Patos, &c., Gregg. — A shrub, from 3 to 15 feet high. Pinnae li 

 to 3 inches long : leaflets commonly 2 or 3 lines long. Stipules foliaceous, oblique- 

 ly triangular-semicordate, or the upper subulate from a broad base, caducous. 

 Heads half an inch in diameter. Legumes 4-6 inches long, three quarters of an 

 inch broad, remarkably velvety-canescent ; the valves perfectly flat, coriaceous, 

 ■with somewhat thickened margins. Unripe seeds flat. — Allied to A. Berlandieri, 

 Benth., for which it was at first mistaken ; but distinguished by its sparingly acule- 

 ate branches, glabrate foliage, and long, flat, stipitate pods.* — Between Monterey 

 and Cerralvo, Wislizenus gathered a fruiting specimen (No. 343), with mature dehis- 

 cent pods, which is most likely a variety of A. tephroloba. These pods are broader 

 and proportionally shorter (oblong, an inch wide, and 3 or 4 inches long), somewhat 

 curved, the valves more indurated, and the large seeds flat. 



177. A. cuspiDATA, Schlecht. in Linncea, 12. p. 573 ; Benth. in Land. Jour. Bot. 

 5. p. 99. Hills of Turkey Creek, Western Texas, June ; in flower and fruit. 

 " Plant one to three feet high." — This is the same as Coulter's Mexican plant, re- 

 ferred by Bentham to A. cuspidata, except that the pods are mostly longer. But I 

 fear it is much too near A. Texensis (of which I have no authentic specimen), and 

 I am confident that it passes into A. hirta. 



178. A. HIRTA, Nutt. in Torr. Sf Gray., Fl. I. p. 404; Benth. in Land. Jour. Bot. 

 1. p. 525. Low prairies of the Guadaloupe, Texas; May. 



179. "A. CouLTERi (sp. nov. Vulgares Nudiflorse) : glabra vel minute puberula, 

 inermis ; stipulis minutis obsoletisve ; petioli glandulis parvis oblongis ; pinnis 3 - 

 5-jugis ; foliolis 10 - 25-jugis oblongo-linearibus valde obliquis acutiusculis obtu- 

 sisve ; spicis elongatis axillaribus laxifloris ; floribus subsessilibus puberulis ; calyce 

 corollse dimidium sequante ; ovario stipitato glabro ; legumine lato-lineari piano 

 marginato puberulo, valvulis rigidulis. — (Zimapan, Mexico, Coulter ; without any 

 number.) Uplands of the Leona River, Western Texas ; June. — Allied to A. 

 Acatlensis and A. Wrightii, but perfectly distinct from both. The leaflets are 

 about three lines long, and scarcely a line broad. The spikes from 2 to 2i inches 

 long, on a very short peduncle ; the flowers not crowded, and often distant from 

 each other. They are, including the stamens, about 2^ inches long ; the corolla it- 

 self about one line. Pod at least three inches long and nearly one inch broad, cov- 

 ered with a minute down, obscurely veined : it is of a much thicker and firmer con- 

 sistence than that of A. Wrightii." Benth. in litt. 



180. "A. coNSTRicTA (sp. uov. GumifersB Medibracteatse) : subglabra; spinis 

 stipularibus subulatis divaricatis rectis vel subrecurvis; pinnis 2-7-jugis; foliolis 

 parvis 6- 10-jugis oblongis obtusis crassis enervibus, glandula parva scutelliformi ; 

 pedunculis medio bracteatis ; legumine anguste linear! complanato toruloso glabro, 



* A. Beelandieki {Benth. in Land. Jour. Bot. 1. p. 522) : adde char, legumine oblongo falcate (2|- 

 poUicari) utrinque obtuso estipitato velutino-puberulo, valvulis coriaceis convexis ; seminibus turgidis. — 

 The character of the fruit is drawn from a pod which accompanies a flowering specimen in the collection 

 of Wislizenus (No. 276), gathered about Cadena, half way between Chihuahua and Monterey, New Leon, 

 where (not in Texas) Berlandier's plant, with the character of which this well accords, was collected. The 

 pod, unfortunately, is not attached. 



