A™M°yr,'J7h9*rm  }      Poisonous  Species  of  Astragalus.  239 
Wm.  Neergaard,  of  New  York,  I  obtained  some  time  ago  the  root, 
leaves  and  seed  pods  of  a  plant  from  the  Indian  Territory,  in  regard  to 
which  the  following  information  was  given  :  "  The  plant  is  among  the 
first  to  make  its  appearance  in  the  spring,  and  is  anxiously  sought  after 
by  the  Indian  ponies  and  horses.  They  will  dig  into  the  earth  for  it, 
and  after  eating  it  they  become  intoxicated  and  excited  and  seek  water, 
which  they  drink  with  avidity,  when  they  begin  to  swell,  soon  fall  over 
and  rarely  live  to  get  away  from  the  water,  not  being  able  after  they 
have  drunk  to  rise  to  their  feet  again."  Although  the  specimen  had 
suffered  much  while  passing  through  the  mail,  and  flowers  had  not  been 
sent,  it  could  be  referred  to  the  natural  order  of  Leguminosae,  and  by 
the  peculiar  legume  was  traced  to  the  genus  Astragalus. 
The  Proceedings  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
vol.  vi,  contain  an  excellent  paper,  by  Professor  Asa  Gray,  entitled  "A 
revision  and  arrangement  (mainly  by  the  fruit)  of  the  North  American 
species  of  Astragalus  and  Oxytropis,"  in  which  he  unites  the  genus 
Phaca  as  a  subgenus  or  division  of  Astragalus,  describing  altogether 
108  species,  56  of  which  belong  to  the  former  and  52  to  Astragalus 
proper,  which  is  characterized  by  the  partly  or  completely  two-celled 
legume,  resulting  from  a  septum  and  the  inflexion  of  one  or  both  sutures. 
Of  the  16  sections  of  the  last  mentioned  division,  the  plant  in  question 
belongs  to  section  4,  mollissimi,  and  is  thus  characterized  by  Gray1 :  "  Le- 
gume cartilaginous  or  coriaceous,  sessile,  oblong,  turgid,  not  compressed, 
more  or  less  sulcate  at  both  sutures,  by  the  perfect  septum  two-celled, 
at  length  incurved.  With  a  perennial  caudex,  subacaulescent,  glossy, 
with  a  soft,  silky,  often  yellow,  pubescence  ;  peduncles  scape-like,  long  ; 
spikes  dense  ;  flowers  rather  large,  violet ;  calyx  tubular." 
The  plant  has  lanceolate  stipules  cohering  below  the  petiole,  and 
leaves  with  11  to  14  pairs  of  ovate-oblong  or  oval,  obtuse  but  slightly 
mucronate  leaflets  ;  its  pods  are  about  one-half  inch  long  and  smooth. 
It  is  widely  distributed  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  has  been  found 
from  Nebraska  to  Western  Texas  ;  it  is  rare  in  Colorado,  and  is  not 
mentioned  as  occurring  in  California. 
3Legumen  cartilagineum  vel  coriaceum,  estipitatum,  oblongum,  turgidum,  nec 
compressum  nec  obcompressum,  ad  suturas  utrasque  pi.  m.  sulcatum,  septo  perfecto 
bilocellatum,  demum  incurvum.  E  caudice  perenni  subacaules,  villo  seiiceo  molli 
(saepius  fulvo  vel  aurato)  splendentes  j  pedunculis  scapiformibus  elongatis.  Spicae 
densiflorae.    Flores  inter  majores,  violacei ;  calyce  tubuloso. 
