FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 467 



34. COURSETIA 



A shrub up to 6 m. (20 feet) high, unarmed; leaves pinnate, the 

 leaflets numerous, thin, oval; flowers appearing with the leaves; 

 inflorescences racemose, axillary, glandular; corolla white or tinged 

 with pink, with a yellow center; pods linear, torulose, 2-valved. 



1. Coursetia microphylla A. Gray, Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. Proc. 17: 

 201. 1882. 



Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma Counties, 4,000 feet or lower, canyons 

 and dry rocky slopes, locally abundant, March and April, type from 

 the Santa Catalina Mountains (Pringle in 1881). Southern Arizona 

 and northern Sonora. 



This species is closely related to C. glandulosa Gray and is perhaps 

 only a good variety of the latter. The mature leaflets attain a length 

 of more than 2 cm. but are usually much smaller. The plant is often 

 browsed. The stems sometimes are heavily encrusted with orange- 

 colored lac, resulting from infestation by an insect of the genus Tach- 

 ardia. This was used by the Papago Indians to seal jars containing 

 sahuaro sirup and is reported to be used by the Mexicans in treating 

 colds and fever. 



35. CRACCA 



Plants herbaceous, perennial, small; herbage sericeous or villous; 

 leaves pinnate, the leaflets several, broad, thin; flowers few, in loose 

 long-stalked racemes; corolla with ochroleucous or pale-yellow wings 

 and keel, the banner usually more or less purple ; pods linear, flat, with 

 cross partitions between the seeds, completely dehiscent ; seeds rounded- 

 quadrangular. 



It is reported that the plants are heavily grazed but quickly recover. 



1. Cfacca edwardsii A. Gray, PL Wright, 2: 35. 1853. 



Benthamantha edwardsii Rose, Contrib. U. S. Natl. Herbarium 



10: 99. 1906. 

 Benthamantha wrightii Rydb., North Amer. Fl. 24: 246. 1924. 



Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Pima Counties, 4,000 to 6,000 feet? 

 common on rocky slopes, often with live oaks, July to September, 

 type of B. wrightii from "between the San Pedro and the Sonoita" 

 (Wright 963 in part). Southern Arizona and northern Mexico. 



The var. glabella Gray (Benthamantha glabella Rydb.) occurs in the 

 Huachuca and Patagonia Mountains (Cochise and Santa Cruz 

 Counties). Normally it differs from typical C. edwardsii in having 

 flowering stems from a eormlike caudex (instead of an elongate woody 

 rootstock), some of the roots tuberous-thickened, the pubescence of 

 the herbage looser and more spreading, the leaflets more broadly 

 obovate and more obtuse at apex, and the banner petal yellowish, 

 often purple-veined (instead of red or purple). Rydberg may have 

 been justified in giving this form specific rank, although apparently it 

 intergrades with typical C. edwardsii. 



36. SPHIXCTOSPKRMUM 



A small annua] herb; stems slender, erect, sparingly branched; 

 herbage sparsely strigose; leaves reduced to 1 long narrowly linear 



