LEGUMINOS^. 417 



cent, 2-3-ovulecl. Legume triangular-ovoid, closely sessile in the 

 calyx, 3 lines long, deeply grooved on the dorsal side, thence appearing 

 somewhat didymous, not grooved on the ventral face, minutely pointed, 

 slightly pubescent, completely two-celled by the introflexion of the 

 dorsal suture; the cells one-seeded. Seeds large for the size of the cell. 



The much smaller flowers with a shorter calyx, and the entire 

 leaflets, at once distinguish this species from the foregoing, which 

 probably bears a different fruit. 



9. Astragalus Alpamarc^;, Sp. Nov. 



A. pygmceus, coespitoso-acaidis ; stipulis vaginantibus ; foliis confertis- 

 simis minimis; foliolis 11-21 ovalibus emarginatis obcordatisve villo- 

 sidis sen glabellas; floribus solitaries binisve sessilibus ; calycis dentibm 

 triangulalo-subulatis tubo campamdato paullo brevioribus; ovario 

 biloculari, locidis uniovidatis. 



Hab. Near Alpamarca, on the high Andes of Peru. 



A very dwarf, densely ccespitose, and stemless species, forming a 

 matted tuft, only an inch or two in height, from lignescent caudexes ; 

 the condensed branches covered with the smoothish sheathing stipules, 

 and with densely croioded, minute leaves; the latter only a quarter or 

 half an inch in length, including the petiole. Leaflets 11 to 21, oval 

 and notched at the apex, or obcordate, from half a line to scarcely a 

 line in length, of a rather fleshy texture, conduplicate, the upper 

 surface mostly glabrous, the lower more or less villous with loose hairs, 

 or some of them glabrate. Flowers solitary or in pairs, sessile or 

 nearly so at the end of the branches, small. Calyx-tube campanulate, 

 a line and a half long, sparsely hairy, rather longer than the triangular- 

 subulate-teeth; the latter spreading. "Corolla blue," according to Dr. 

 Pickering's notes: vexillum fully twice the length of the calyx, 

 rounded-obovate, retuse, very large in proportion to the other petals. 

 Stamens diadelphous from the middle downwards. Ovary two-celled, 

 silky- villous, with a single ovule in each cell. Fruit not seen. — An 

 imperfect specimen, from the same habitat, has larger and less con- 

 gested leaves, and is perhaps a more developed state of the species. 



105 



