136 L.^iEGUMiKOSJ!. (J. G. Baker.) [Astragalus. 



beyond the stipules. Calpx i in. long, cleft dcwn to the base, each lobe like a dense 

 tuft of thick white pubescence. Corolla yeUow, little exserted ; petals equal, marces- 

 cent ; standard panduxiform. Pod sessile, sUky, 3-4-seeded. 



Bunge gives his A. glabrifolms, Mon. i. 93, ii. 167, gathered also by Griiffith in 

 Afghanistan, from the West Himalayas, on Falconer's authority. It has much longer 

 petioles, longer flat glabrous leaflets, flowers of many nodes at the top of a short stem 

 aggregated into a thick very dense oblong head. 



STiBGBisr. 10. Cercidothrix, Bunge (including Calycocystis). Herba- 

 ceous perennials, densely canescent with adpressed white bristly hairs fixed 

 by the centre like those of Indigofera, moderately large yellow flowers and 

 glabrous stigmas. Outlying representatives of a group of above 300 species, 

 mostly Central Asian. 



68. A. peduncularis, Rm/le III. 199; leaflets 21-25 distant narrow- 

 oblong, racemes many-flowered lax in the lower part, calyx permanently 

 tubular, pod linear very turgid unilocular many-seeded. Bunge Mon. i. 96, 

 ii. 168. 



West Tibet ; Dras and Zanskar, alt. 9-1 2,000 ft., Thomson, Henderson ; 

 KuNAWAE, Royle. 



Stems tall, erect, glabrous, firm, little branched, 1-2 ft. high, with only a few obseore 

 adpressed bristles. Leaves 3-4 in. long ; rachis channelled down the face ; leaflets 

 obtuse or subacute, |-^ in. long, pale green, glabrescent above, persistently strigUlose 

 below ; stipules deltoid, free, membranous. Bacemes 2-4 in. long, dense upwards, 

 Phaca-like ; peduncles finally ^ ft. or more ; pedicels very short, cernuous ; bracts 

 lanceolate, J in., subpersistent. Calyx \ in., finely downy ; teeth very short, upper 

 deltoid, lower lanceolate. Corolla twice the calyx; keel and wings nearly equal, 

 rather shorter than the standard. Fod sessile, firm, glabrous, very turgid, §— J in. long, 

 depressed down the keel, but the suture not intruded ; seeds 15-20. 



69. A. subulatus, M. Bieh. Fl. Taur. Caucas. ii. 193 ; leaflets 9-13 

 distant linear, racemes few-flowered lax, calyx permanently tubular, pod long 

 cylindrical half-bilocular many-seeded. Boias. Fl. Orient, ii. 481. A. anfrac- 

 tuosus, Bunge Mon. i. 125, ii. 218. 



West TrsET, alpine region, alt. 12,000 ft., Thomson, Henderson. — Disteib. Afghan- 

 istan, Bsloochistan, Crimea, West Siberia, Chinese Tartary. 



Stems under a foot high, 2—3 times dichotomously forked, the branches divaricated, 

 thinly clothed with minute white bristles. Leaves i-1 in. long ; leaflets ^— | in. 

 acute, firm, pale green, persistently strigiUose on both sides ; stipules linear, very 

 minute. Racemes 3-12-fiowered, 1-2 in. long; peduncles rigid, exceeding the leaves, 

 clothed with mixed black and white adpressed hairs ; pedicels very short ; bracts 

 minute, lanceolate, persistent. Calyx cylindrical, J-| in. long, densely clothed with 

 adpressed mixed black and white bristles ; teeth minute, lanceolate. Corolla nearly 

 twice the calyx ; wings shorter than the standard ; keel much shorter, the lamina 

 not more than half as long as the claw. Pod cylindrical, 1-1^ in. long, canescent 

 with similar bristles to those of the calyx and peduncle, firm, rostrate, 20-30-Beeded, 

 straight or slightly recurved, narrowed to a short stalk. 



70. A. nivalis, Kar. 8r Kir. Ihum. PI. Song. iVo. 272; leaflets 13-17 

 close oblong, racemes many-flowered capitate, calyx becoming inflated, pod 

 very small half-bilocular few-seeded. Bunge Mon. i. 137, ii. 234. A. Thom- 

 Bonianus, Benth. MSS. 



West Tibet, alpine region, alt. 11-16,000 ft.; Zanskar, Ladak, and Sassar, 

 Thomson, Stewart. — Disteib. Central Siberia. 



Boot thick, woody. Stems J-^ ft., densely (aespitose, slender, finely canescent. Lec^f 



