108 xxvi. LEGUMiNOSiE : asteagalejE. [Astragalus. 
less perfectly) ; cells formed by the indexed margins of the 
upper suture. — Named from o£vq, sharp , and rponic, a. heel; one 
of the essential characters of this genus, as distinguishing it 
from the following. 
1. 0. Uralcnsis DC. ( hairy Mountain O.) ; stemless, leaflets 
about 12 pairs ovate acute densely clothed with silvery hairs, 
scape erect longer than the leaves with spreading hairs, legumes 
erect ovate-cylindrical silky with a recurved point, style per- 
sistent. Astragalus L. : E. B. t. 466. Ox. Halleri Bunge (not 
VilL). 
Dry pastures in Scotland, chiefly near the sea. Queensferry; 
Montrose; Mull of Galloway; Argyle ; Ross; Sutherland. fl. 
6, 7. — A very beautiful plant, clothed with silky hairs, especially on 
the young leaves. Leaflets 8 — 12 pairs, on foreign specimens some- 
times 20 pairs, with an odd one, ovate, oblong or narrow-lanceolate, 
acute. Scape, when in fr., 4 — 6 inches high. Flowers bright purple, 
capitate, somewhat spreading. Legumes sometimes 2-cel!ed, some- 
times only divided to the middle, in the same plant. We cannot dis- 
tinguish the European from the Siberian plant. 
2. O. campestris DC. ( yellowish Mountain O .) ; stems very 
short procumbent, leaflets about 12 pairs elliptic lanceolate 
sprinkled with shining hairs, peduncles ascending about the 
same length as the leaves, legumes erect ovate inflated pubes- 
cent semibiloeular. Astragalus L. : E B. t. 2522. A. sordidus 
Willd. 
Rocks facing the south, a little to the north of Bradoony, in the 
Clova mountains. If. 7. — Flowers capitate, yellowish, tinged with 
purple. The Scotch plant belongs to the variety or species called 
O. sordida, but we perceive no essential difference between this and 
O. campestris. 
12. Astragalus Linn. Milk-vetch. 
Keel obtuse. Legume 2-celled (more or less perfectly) ; cells 
formed by the indexed margins of the lower suture. — Act rpa- 
yaXof, one of the bones of the heel, is the Greek name for one 
of the species, in allusion to the knotted root of that individual 
plant to which it was formerly applied. 
1. A. glycyphyllus L. ( sweet M.); stem prostrate, spikes 
ovate, leaves longer than the peduncles, leaflets oval, stipules 
ovate-lanceolate free, legumes somewhat triangular linear 
curved sessile erect glabrous. E. B. t. 203. 
Woods and thickets, in a gravelly or calcareous soil. Rare in 
Scotland; about Edinburgh, Queensferry, and Arbroath. If. 6 — 9. 
— Well distinguished by its large size. Stem prostrate, 2 — 3 ft. 
long. Leaves with large ovate acute stipules, which are free from 
each other and from the petiole. Flowers dingy yellow. Legumes 
an inch or more in length, curved. 
