120 
BOTANY. 
June 1. A well-marked species; with the foliage somewhat like that of Y. delphinifolia, Nutt.; 
hut the primary divisions compoundly divided in a ternate or pinnatisect manner; and there is 
a distinct stem, although it is only an inch long in the specimen. Lobes of the leaves half an 
inch or less in length. Stipules very small and inconspicuous, except those of the lowest 
and subradical leaves, which are larger. Peduncles 2 inches, naked. Petals half an inch 
long. Style short, clavate, minutely bearded at the gibbous summit; the stigma lateral. 
Trifolium altissimum, Dougl. in Hook. FI. Bor.-Am. 1, p. 130, t. 48. On the Sierra Ne¬ 
vada ; June 22. 
Astragalus (Phaca) Purshii, Dougl. in Hook. FI. Bor.-Am. 1, p. 152. Phaca mollissima, 
Nutt, in Torr. and Gray , FI. 1, p. 350; Torr. in Stansbury’s Bep. p. 385, t. 3, Jigs. 4 and 5. 
Near Humboldt river ; in fruit. In reuniting Phaca to Astragalus, the name given by Doug¬ 
las to this species is to be restored, both on account of its priority, and because there is already 
an Astragalus mollissimus. 
Astragalus (Phaca) Utahensis : caespitose, very softly and densely white-tomentose; stems 
short and depressed; leaflets 6-9 pairs, broadly obovate or nearly orbicular; stipules lanceo¬ 
late, subulate-pointed, free; peduncles equalling or exceeding the leaves, subcapitately 3-6- 
flowered; bracts setaceous, twice the length of the pedicels ; teeth of calyx subulate, much 
shorter than the cylindrical tube; corolla violet-purple; legumes extremely woolly, sessile, ob¬ 
long, pointed, incurved, strictly one-celled. Phaca mollissima /?. Utahensis, Torr. in Stansb. 
Rep. p. 385, t. 2. Near Lone Rock, south of G-reat Salt Lake. In flower; May. Although 
closely allied to the preceding, this may safely be considered as a distinct species ; and so Dr. 
Torrey was inclined to regard it. A. Purshii, besides its oblong and often acute or acutish 
leaflets, has the foliage and calyx, &c., clothed with villous or shaggy hairs, so that Hooker de¬ 
scribes it as “ hirsutissimus,” and the flowers are said by Douglas to be yellow, meaning doubt¬ 
less ochroleucous, except a purple tip to the keel. The present plant is white, with a soft and 
matted tomentum, and the corolla is violet-purple. The mature pods, (here described chiefly 
from a fruiting plant gathered by Captain Stansbury, which is doubtless a form of the species, 
though with shorter peduncles,) after detaching the thick mass of wool in which they are 
imbedded, are found to be narrower, but otherwise similar to those of the preceding. In the 
figure above cited, the tube of the calyx is mostly represented quite too short. It is really of 
the same elongated form as in A. Purshii, but the teeth are not so setaceous. 
Astragalus (Homalobus?) Beckwithii, (n. sp.): glabrous or nearly so, low, perennial; stems 
branched from the base, ascending; stipules triangular-lanceolate, nearly free; petioles slen¬ 
der; leaflets 6-9 pairs, small, oval-orbicular, rather scattered; peduncles about the length of 
the leaves, 7-8-flowered ; bracts subulate, small; calyx oblong-campanulate, sparsely and mi¬ 
nutely black-haired; the aristiform-subulate teeth nearly as long as the tube; corolla ochroleu¬ 
cous, incurved, the oblong vexillum deeply emarginate; ovary linear, stipitate. On the Cedar 
Mountains, west of Lone Rock, and south of Great Salt Lake ; May ; in flower. The slender 
stems, with the peduncles that terminate them, are only 4 inches long in the specimen, and not 
exceeding the radical leaves; but as they go on to branch they doubtless attain a considerably 
greater height in the season. Leaflets 2^ or 3 lines long, slightly petiolulate, rather fleshy in 
texture, veinless, glabrous, except some minute hairs on the midrib and margins when first de¬ 
veloped. Flowers crowded on very short pedicels ; tube of the calyx 3 lines long; corolla 9 
lines long, abruptly curved near the obtuse tip of the keel, which is much shorter than the 
wings and vexillum ; ovary glabrous, more or less compressed, many-ovuled, neither suture at 
all introflexed, raised on a stipe which is soon- about as long as the tube of the calyx. The 
fruit, unfortunately, is still unknown ; but the plant is evidently one not before described. 
Astragalus diphysus, Gray, PI. Fendl. p. 34 ? Southwest of Great Salt Lake; May. In 
flower only, and not to be accurately determined. 
