502 MISC. PUBLICATION 42 3, U. S. SEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



cleft; corolla pale purple and greenish yellow, the wings and keel 

 united below; pods linear, several-seeded. 



The plants are of some value as forage but do not withstand heavy 

 grazing. They make an excellent ground cover. 



1. Galactia wrightii A. Gray, PL Wright, 1: 44. 1852. 



Graham, Pinal, Cochise, and Pima Counties, 4,000 to 6,000 feet, 

 common on dry slopes, often in oak chaparral, July to September. 

 Western Texas to southern Arizona and northern Mexico. 



The var. mollissima Kearney and Peebles, with herbage densely 

 soft-villous (hairs more spreading than in the typical form) , has been 

 collected in the Pinaleno Mountains (Graham County) , at Fish Creek 

 (Maricopa County), in the Chiricahua Mountains (Cochise County) , 

 and in the Patagonia Mountains (Santa Cruz County). 



An unidentified species, possibly undescribed, was collected near Nogales, 

 Santa Cruz County (Harrison and Peebles 4743). It is distinguished from G. 

 wrightii by sparse strigose pubescence, short broadly elliptic leaflets, these rounded 

 or retuse at apex, and racemes scarcely surpassing the subtending leaf. 



55. RHYNCHOSIA. Rosarybean 



Perennial herbs with trailing or weakly twining stems; leaves. pin- 

 nately 3-foliolate, without stipels; flowers small, in axillary few- 

 flowered racemes or fascicles; corolla yellow, the keel more or less 

 falcate; pods flat, more or less asymmetric, completely dehiscent; 

 seeds 1 or 2. 



The plants afford excellent ground cover and may be useful for 

 erosion control. 



Key to the species 



1. Stems retrorsely puberulent; leaflets normally more than twice as long as wide, 

 linear or narrowly elliptic to ovate-lanceolate (exceptionally ovate), the 

 veins often very prominent beneath; pods puberulent or short-pilose, 

 asymmetrically oblanceolate and slightly lunate 1. R. texana. 



1. Stems short-hirsute and slightly viscid; leaflets normally less than twice as long 

 as wide, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or short-acuminate, the veins 

 not very prominent beneath; pods short-pilose and sparsely hirsute, 

 scarcely asymmetric, elliptic 2. R. rariflora. 



1. Rhynchosia texana Torr. and Gray, Fl. North Amer. 1: 687. 1840. 



Dolicholus texanus Vail, Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 26: 108. 1899. 



Greenlee County to southern Yavapai County, south to Cochise, 

 Santa Cruz, and Pima Counties, 3,500 to 5,500 feet, fairly common on 

 dry plains and mesas, May to August. Western Texas to southern 

 Arizona and Mexico. 



An unusual form, with twining stems and exceptionally large thin 

 leaflets, was collected in the foothills of the Rincon Mountains, Pima 

 County {Kearney and Peebles 8752). 



2. Rhynchosia rariflora Standi., Field Museum Nat. Hist. Bot. Ser. 



17: 264. 1937. 



Sycamore Canyon near Ruby, Santa Cruz County, about 3,600 

 feet (Goodding 1738, 1739, Kearney and Peebles 14458), September 

 and October. Southern Arizona and Chihuahua. 



A considerable extension of range, the type (and only previously 

 known collection) from southwestern Chihuahua. The corolla of the 

 Arizona specimens is somewhat smaller than in the type, about 8 mm. 

 long. 





