254 LEGUMINOS^!. Astragalus. 



cartilaginous and thick-walled, obtuse at both ends, abruptly pointed with the per- 

 sistent base of the style, one-celled, both sutures strong and prominent externally : 

 seeds numerous. — Bot. King Exp. 74. 



West Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, Watson. Allied to A. pcdinatm but very distinct. 

 Leaflets not rigid and persistent as in that species and the next. Pods three fourths of an inch 

 long and three eighths in diameter, the cross section oblate-oval. 



++ -r-r Flowers smaller, from one third to half or rarely two thirds of an inch lone/, 



= Few or not very numerous in the sp>ike : pods not densely spilced. 



a. Flattened more or less fore and aft, i. e. contrary to the sutures, and with no 



proper partition. 



36. A. pterocarpus, Watson. A foot or two high, but soon declined or de- 

 cumbent, cinereous-puberulent or glabrate, loosely branched : leaflets linear-acerose, 



3 to 9 on the rigid filiform rhachis, persistent and equally rigid, of about the same 

 breadth (an inch or so in length) : peduncles 7 - 9-flowered : flowers (hardly known) 

 about half an inch long : pod pendulous, glabrous, ovate or oval (an inch long) cori- 

 aceous, except theacute tip strongly flattened contrary to the sutures and margined 

 with a narrow rigid wing, one-celled, the sutures narrow and not intruded : seeds 

 numerous. — Bot. King Exp. 71, t. 12. 



N. W. Nevada, in alkaline soil at the junction of the Eeese Paver with the Humboldt. Prob- 

 ably not Californian : most remarkable for the winged margins of the strongly obeompressed 

 legumes. 



37. A. Casei, Gray. A span or more high, cinereous with minute appressed 

 pubescence : stems and branches effuse, nearly filiform, rigid : leaflets 5 to 15, scat- 

 tered, linear, very obtuse, small (2 to 4 lines long, half a line or less wide), decid- 

 uous; the rhachis and petiole elongated and filiform : peduncles loosely few-flowered : 

 flowers half an inch long, narrow : teeth of the calyx subulate, hardly one third 

 the length of the cylindraeeous or oblong tube : corolla apparently pale purple ; 

 pod oblong or lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, about an inch long and 4 

 lines wide, puberulent, sometimes brownish-mottled, cartilaginous, arcuate-incurved, 

 strongly flattened contrary to the sutures, both of which are narrow and externally 

 prominent, one-celled, the cross section transversely narrow-oblong : seeds rather 

 numerous. 



High plateau near Pyramid Lake, N. "W. Nevada, Zcmmon and E. L. Case. 



38. A. iodantlius, Watson. A span or two long, soon procumbent, either 

 pubescent or almost glabrous, leafy; leaflets 11 to 21, rather crowded, obovate or 

 roundish : peduncles equalling the leaves : flowers rather numerous and close in the 

 oblong spike : teeth of the calyx setaceous-subulate, loose or spreading, more than 

 half the length of the oblong-campanulate tube : corolla bright violet-purple, or 

 rarely pale, half to two thirds of an inch long : pod oblong-linear, an inch or more 

 in length, glabrous, coriaceous, pointed, curved at length into a semicircle, com- 

 pressed contrary to the sutures, both of which are turned inwards with a broad 

 groove, so that the cross section is nearly that of a figure 8 : seeds numerous. — 

 Bot. King Exp. 70. 



Eastern ranges of the Sierra Nevada, from Sierra Valley to the W. Humboldt Mountains. Flow- 

 ers in spring. Pods sometimes brownish-mottled. 



39. A. Webberi, Gray. A span to a foot high, leafy : leaflet 11 to 21, crowded, 

 both sides silvery-canescent with a fine appressed silky pubescenc , oblong or obovate, 



4 to 7 lines long : peduncles surpassing the leaves : spike rather densely 9 - 20- 

 flowered : teeth of the calyx subulate, about half the length of the oblong-campan- 

 ulate tube : corolla white or yellowish-white, half an inch long ; pod oblong, an 

 inch and more in length, glabrous, thick and fleshy when young, cartilaginous at 

 maturity, blunt or nearly so, straightish or arcuate, turgid, somewhat flattened con- 



