302 



LEGUMINOSiE. 



9 to 16 or often 24 in. long; leaflets 5 to mostly 7, elliptic- or more 

 commonly oblong-obovate, 3 to 7 lines long; peduncles 1 in. long or 

 less, 2 to 5-flowered, bractless or with a conspicuous 1 to 3-foliolate 

 bract; corolla yellow, 3 lines long, the banner sometimes shorter than 

 the wings and obliquely obtuse keel; calyx-tube J to f as long as the 

 linear-lanceolate teeth; pod 1 in. long, 10 to 12-seeded; seeds obliquely 

 oval, smooth. — (Hosackia maritima Benth.) 



Alkaline flats: San Jose, acc. to Greene; Santa Cruz, M. E. Jones, 

 and southward to Monterey, Santa Barbara, Torrey, and Santa 

 Monica. Mar.-May. 



8. L. strigosus (Nutt.) Greene. Appressed-hirsutulous; stems 

 branched at the base and decumbent or prostrate; leaflets 7 to 10, 

 oblong or narrowly obovate, 2 to 5 lines long; early peduncles shorter 

 than the leaves, 1-flowered, bractless; later peduncles often longer 

 than the leaves, frequently 2-flowered and bracted; flowers 3 or 4 

 lines long, yellow; calyx ^ as long, its teeth triangular-acuminate; 

 pod 1 in. long or somewhat less, 9 to 14-seeded; seeds quadrate, 

 deeply notched at the hilum, minutely granulate, \ line long. — 

 (Hosackia rubella Nutt.) 



Alameda, San Francisco and southward. Apr.-Nov. The var. 

 nudiflorus (Hosackia nudiflora Nutt.), with pods \\ times as broad 

 and slightly curved upward at apex and flowers 5 lines long, occurs 

 in the Mt. Diablo Range. Lotus hirtellus Greene, " canescently- 

 hirsutulous," " peduncles 2-flowered," Mt. Diablo Range near Liver- 

 more, is, doubtless, of no value specifically. 



9. L. micranthus Benth. Annual, glabrous and glaucous, the 

 stems very slender, 1 or 2 from the base and erect, or rarely with 

 many diffuse or ascending branches; leaflets 3 to 5, mostly 4 with one 

 leaflet terminal and two on one side of the rachis and one on the 

 other, obovate to oblong, 2 to 5 lines long; peduncles filiform, shorter 

 than the leaves, 1-flowered, bracted, 1 to 6 lines long, or in fruit as 

 much as 1 in. long; flowers minute, pale salmon, turning red; corolla 

 twice as long as the calyx, the teeth of the latter commonly shorter 

 than the tube; pod 7 to 10 lines long, linear, compressed, constricted 

 between the oval or roundish smooth seeds. —(Hosackia parviflora 

 Benth.) 



Common in the Coast Ranges on grassy hills, the plants, where 

 found, numerous and growing closely together: Napa Co.; Sonoma 

 Co.; Mt. Tamalpais; Mt. Diablo and southward to Monterey. 

 Apr. -May. 



10. L. Americanus (Nutt.) Bisch. Spanish Clover. Annual, 

 more or less silky-villous or pilose-pubescent, strictly erect and nearby 

 simple, or more commonly very diffusely branched with straggling or 

 ascending stems 2 or 3 ft. long; leaflets 1 to mostly 3, ovate to 

 oblong, acute or obtusish, 3 to 10 lines or the lower 1 in. or more 

 long; peduncles exceeding the leaves, the solitary whitish or pinkish 

 flower subtended by a bract 2 to 4 lines long; calyx-teeth subulate- 

 linear, longer than the short tube, almost equaling the (2 to 3 lines 



