150 LEGUMINOS^. astragalus. 



teeth shorter than- the tuhe: ovary canescent; pods very large, inflated, 

 ohovoid, obtuse, tapering into a very short stipe, glabrous, thin and 

 membranaceous, whitish and beautifully mottled with purple, nearly 2 

 inches long. Oregon to California and Nevada. 



A. ceramicns Sheld. 1. c. 19. A. pictus Gray, not Bteud. Hoary with 

 a loose silky pubescence : stems erect, slender, branching, from fllilorm 

 roots, ascending, 10-12 inches high : lower petioles short, pinnately 3-5- 

 foliolate, with narrovly Unear leaflets, the upper ones elongated and 

 filiform, mostly leafless; stipules lanceolate-subulate, the lowermost 

 united, the upper ones distinct : racemes on flliform peduncles shorter 

 than the leaves, 7-10-flowered : pods 6-18 lines long, ovoid, scarcely 

 pointed, membranaceous and much inflated, stipitate, pendent. Idaho to 

 Nebraska and New Mexico. 



A. Cusickii Gray Proc. Am. Acad, iii, 370. Many-stemmed from a 

 thick perennial root, strict, smooth or nearly so : stipules scarious, tri- 

 angular, acuminate, slightly connate; leaflets 13-17, remote, linear, 5-7 

 lines long : peduncles exceeding the leaves, bearing few to several white 

 or yellowish flowers in a loose raceme; calyx cylindrical, more or less 

 dark-pubescent, the short triangular teeth not j4: ^^ long a-s the tube : pods 

 oblong, with a short incurved acute beak, an inch long or less, contracted 

 at base to a short stipe about equalling the calyx, glabrous. Powder river 

 valley .eastern Oregon. 



* * * Annual : pod sessile, not mottled ; flowers small, ochroleucous 

 or purplish. Low ; leaflets linear or linear-oblong, grey with strigu- 

 lose hairs. 



A. Geyeri Gray 1. c. 214. Subcanescent with an appressed hairy pu- 

 bescence: stem somewhat simple, 3-6 inches high, annual: leaflets linear 

 or oblong, obtuse, glabrous above : peduncles shorter than the leaves, 3-5- 

 flowered; calyx campanulate, its subulate teeth about equalling the tube; 

 corolla 3 lines long, ochroleucous; pods 8-9 lines long, membranaceous, in- 

 flated, ovate-lunate with an incurved acumination, sessile, not mottled, 

 finely reticulated, glabrous, 1-celled. Montana and southern Idaho to 

 Nevada and California. 



§ 11. MicROCYSTEi Gray 1. c. 219. Pod membranaceous or 

 chartaceous, small, globose or ovate, inflated, sessile, neither su- 

 ture intruded. ' Diff'use or procumbent perennials, mostly small 

 and slender ; flowers small and usually few. 



A. microcystis Gray 1. c. 220. Cinereous-pubescent : stems slender, 

 procumbent, from a woody root, much branched : stipules scarious, con- 

 nate or the uppermost nearly distinct; leafiets 9-13, oblong or oblong-lan- 

 ceolate, obtuse : racemes slender, 5-12-flowered ; calyx hairy, the setaceous- 

 subulate teeth about as long as the short-campanulate tube ; corolla violet 

 pr whitish, the deeply emarginate upper petal slightly exceeding the lat- 

 eral ones, twice as long as the incurved keel: pods globose'ovate, 3 Unas 

 long, thin membranaceous, gray-pubescent. Brit. Columbia to Washlng- 

 ington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. 



§ 12. ScYToCARPi Gray 1. c. 222. Pod coriaceous, ovate or 

 oblong, rarely cylindrical, turgid, not sulcate and neither suture 

 intruded. 



A. Chamseleuce Gray Ives Bep. 10. Perennial ; silvery-canescent with 

 a dense silky pubescence : stems numerous, 1-6 inches long, prostrate, or 

 nearly acaulescent : stipules ovate, membranaceous, free : leaflets 3-7, 2-4 

 lines long, oblong, obovate <ir oval : peduncles shorter than the leaves, 

 slender, 3-8-flowered ; calyx cylindrical, its subulate teeth much shorter 

 than the tube : corolla light violet, 9 lines long : pods 6-12 lines long 



