82 
PLANTS OP YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PAEK 
tenth is free. The pods are several- or many-seeded. Some of the 
species are quite difficult to distinguish from one another and often it 
is necessary to have mature pods 
with certainty. The following 18 
park: 
Astragalus aboriginorum 
Astragalus aculeatus 
Astragalus alpinus 
Astragalus americanus 
Astragalus campestris 
Astragalus carolinianus 
Astragalus cuspidatus 
Astragalus diversifolius 
Astragalus drummondii 
before identification can be made 
species have been identified in the 
Astragalus elegans 
Astragalus flexuosus 
Astragalus hylophilus 
Astragalus hypoglottis 
Astragalus mortonii 
Astragalus pauciflorus 
Astragalus purshii 
Astragalus succulentus 
Astragalus tenellus 
Pointvetch (Arag alius ).—The flowers of the point vetch are like 
those of the milkvetches except that there is an awl-shaped beak at 
the tip of the keel. Some of the species are poisonous to cattle and 
sheep and produce a disease sometimes called “ staggers.” The 
species that have been identified in the park may be distinguished 
in the following manner: 
1. Stipules not grown fast to the petiole_ 
1. Stipules grown fast to the petiole. 2. 
2. Flowers white_ 
2. Flowers white or yellowish, the standard streaked 
with purple___._ 
2. Flowers bright violet_ 
2. Flowers yellowish at the base and bluish purple 
above.____ 
2. Flowers sulphur, the keel purple-tipped_ 
2. Flowers purple. 3. 
3. Leaflets usually 6 or 8_ 
3. Leaflets 11 to 17. Red pointvetch_ 
Aragalius deflexus. 
Aragallus albiflorus. 
Aragallus collinus. 
Aragallus lagopus. 
Aragallus visoidulus. 
Aragallus alpicola. 
Aragallus nanus. 
(.Aragallus blankinshipii ). 
GERANIUM FAMILY (GERANIACEAE) 
The geranium family is a rather small family, but it contains some 
very beautiful flowering plants including both the wild and culti¬ 
vated geraniums and the storksbill. 
Sticky geranium (Geranium viscosissimum ).—The stems of this 
geranium are 1 to 3 feet high and the leaves are large, thick, long- 
petioled, nearly circular, with a somewhat heart-shaped base and 
deeply 3-lobed, the 2 lateral lobes being again 2-lobed. The flowers 
have 5 sepals, 5 purple petals which are densely bearded at the base, 
10 stamens of which 5 are a little longer than the others, and 1 pistil 
which consists of 5 parts united together, each part of the ovary con¬ 
taining 1 seed. At maturity the parts of the pistil separate at the 
