5518 -3 
Gray Proc. Ain. Acad. 6? 526 (1866) 
Describing A, platytropis 
" both sutures are septiferous, the funiculi being adnate to 
the ventral portion of the septum in the manner of the Diphysi to 
which thjls remarkable specie s would belong by its fruit." The Brewer 
plant from Sonora Pass is given as the type. The expression "both 
sutures are septiferous" might be uncertain if the plant had not 
been likened to th^e Diphysi which is characterized by a partition from 
the dorsal suture only with the seeds on the ventral suture. To the 
Diphysi ( based on A. diphysus) belong A. Freemontii and A. lentigunosus. 
Jones in his work on Astragalus illustrates all three of these species. 
Rydberg in the American Journal of Botany Vol. xxijq xvii, No. 3, Plate 
xvi V- # 10 shows a pod structure for his Cystium diphysum ( A. 
diphysu s Gray) that would explain this description by Gray. 
Gray gives the leaflets 3-4 lines long. 
Jones —- Astragalus 
Jones puts A. platytropis in Strigulosi which has the partition 
intruded from the dorsal suture omly. His description of A. platytropis 
. agrees with this and his drawing plate 42 shows this with the seeds 
, attached on the ventral suture. His description follows Gray but 
gives more details! Pod dark puberulent, peduncles 3-8 cm. long, 
leaflets 3-6 pairs, 7-10 mm. long acute or apiculate. Upper to 
middle temperate zone. Type as with Gray Brewer from Sonora Pass. 
Rydberg places A. platytropis in his genu3 Cystium. 
In his Rocky Mountain Flora he states for thjLs genus " pod 2 
celled by intrusion Skh of boi.h sutures." 
In The Flora of North America " Pod-— perfectly 2 celled, the 
septum from th e lower suture reaching the upper. 
Rydberg cites the 3ame type as Gray and Jones. 
He gives in his description Peduncles 3-8.om. long, leaflets 7-13, 
( 5-10 iota, long in Rocky Mountain Flora) G^lyat about 2 mm. long the K 
teeth nearly as long (in Rocky Mountain Flora-calyx tube 3 mm. long, th 
the teeth subulate 2 mm. long) Mbh±scAbi Montane. 
While there are some minor differences in the above descriptions and 
Gray omits measurements given by the others, they use the same 
type and evidently have the same plant In mind. This plant _i. 
platytropis would be a plant with the pod 2 celled with the partition 
formed from the dorsal suture only and with the seeds located on the 
ventral suture, with 7-13 leaflets 5-10 mm. long. 
Besides the difference in partition and location of seeds 5518 has 
uniformly 11-17 leaflets 3-5 mm. long. 
Jepson in A Flora of California gives no information asito character 
of the septum but uses the Brewer plant from Sonora p&fet as the type 
as do the others. He gives the number of leaflets as 7-13 but changes 
the length of the leaflets to 3-6 mm. long. Beside the Brewer type 
Jepson cites Hef/‘er*s plant from the Charleston ( This may account 
for the change in measurements given for th e leaflets} and Jones’ piwfc 
plant from Shelbourne, Utah. Since Heller mu^st have collected his 
plant within two miles of where I collected 5jj^l8 it is almost 
certainly tl\_£ same as mine. A section of Jones’ Shelbourne plant 
shows a partition structure exactly like my 5j£l8. ( I inclose a section) 
Jones also cites this plant from Schelbourne. 
