PEA FAMILY. 



315 



axils, these smaller; raceme with very indistinct verticils, often 1 ft. 

 long; pedicels 5 lines long; bracts linear, 7 lines long; upper lip of 

 calyx slightly notched, the lower entire; corolla sulphur-yellow, 8 

 lines long; banner orbicular, mucronulate at apex, the sides reflexed; 

 wings lightly coherent by their apices, inflated; keel falcate, purple- 

 tipped, lightly ciliate; pod 2 to 3 in. long, 8 to 12-seeded; seeds 

 oblong, dark. 



Common in sandy soils near the ocean: Alameda; Angel Island; 

 San Francisco and north and south along the coast. Apr. 



2. L. variicolor Steud. Low, 1 to 1$ ft. high, the stems woody 

 only at the very base; herbage scantily hairy-pubescent; leaflets 8 or 

 the lowermost 6, oblanceolate, 7 to 9 lines long; raceme mostly 1£ to 

 3 in. long, the whorls 1 to 4; flowers 6 or 7 lines long; banner white 

 or pale blue; wings blue; keel ciliate for its whole length. 



Hillslopes near the seashore: San Francisco; Marin Co. 



3. L. Chamissonis Esch. Stems densely tomentose, woody 

 below, 1 to 3 ft. high; leaflets to 9, more or less silky-pubescent, 

 oblong-oblanceolate; petioles short, mostly not as long as the leaflets; 

 flowers indistinctly or not at all whorled, bluish or lavender, the 

 banner with a permanent yellow spot; keel glabrous. 



Near the seashore: San Francisco and Marin Co. May. Very 

 doubtfully distinct from no. 2, which is only provisionally main- 

 tained. 



4. L. albifrons Benth. Branching bush 2 to 3 ft. high, with a 

 distinct woody trunk; growth of the season silky-pubescent; leaflets 

 7 to 10, oblanceolate to obovate, 10 lines long or less, silvery-silky 

 on both sides; petioles mostly longer than the leaflets; flowers deep 

 blue, in mostly distinct whorls in a loose raceme often 1 ft. long; 

 pedicels 3 lines long; upper calyx-lip broad, cleft, the lower entire; 

 petals subequal; banner broad, with a whitish or sometimes yellow 

 spot early changing to red-purple; keel ciliate; pod 2 in. long, 5 to 9- 

 seeded; seeds oval, 2 lines long, brownish, with a marginal dark line. 



Abundant, especially on the higher hills, in both the Coast Ranges 

 and Sierra Nevada. Feb. -May. Sometimes low and ea?spitose, 

 without a trunk. 



L. eminens Greene grows on "burns" on Mt. Tamalpais; the seed- 

 lings, germinating in the rich ashy soil, grow rapidly and crowd each 

 other up to a height of 6 ft. or less; the slender trunk, 1 in. in diam- 

 eter, being scarcely branched save at the top. We do not consider it 

 distinct from no. 4. 



L. jucundus Greene. Shrub 1£ to 3 ft. high, all the younger 

 stems silky-pubescent; leaflets 7 to 10, oblanceolate, obtuse, mostly 

 1 in. long; flowers blue, 6 or 7 lines long; raceme 5 in. long, the 

 bracts slender, a little snorter than the flower-buds; upper calyx-lip 

 deeply 2-cleft; lower lip entire or obscurely dentate; banner with a 

 vellow spot in center; keel obscurely or plainly ciliate just below the 

 apex.— Vacaville, Cal., R. H. Piatt, Mar. 23, 1898. This species 

 has, to us, no convincing characters. 



