ing from the base; leaflets oblong and cuneate-oblong, obtuse; peduncles
longer than the leaves ; bract of a single leaflet; calvx as long as the corolla;
legume almost flat, glabrous.
. “ Gravel-bars and sandy shores of the Wahlamet, near the Falls. June.—>
About a span high, moderately branching. Bract small.” Nuttall.—Our specimens
are very much like those of H. floribunda.
T ribe V. ASTRAGALEH2. Adans.
Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens monadelphous (9 & 1). Legume
continuous, turgid or inflated (rarely flattened), often spuriously 2 -cell-
ed or partly' 2 -celled by the introflexion o f one o f the sutures, dehiscent,
several- (rarely 1—2 -) seeded. Radicle incurved.—Erect or decumbent,
herbaceous or rarely sufirutescent plants. Leaves unec|ua31v
pinnate (very rarely palmately trifoliolate), or seldom reduced to a
single leaflet, exstipellate. Inflorescence axillary or radical, racemoser
or spicate.
33. ASTRAGALUS. Linn, (partly) ; DC. Astrag., <$■ prodr. 2. p. 281.
Calyx 5-toothed. Keel obtuse. Legume longitudinally 2-celled, or partly
2-celled, by the introflexion of the lower suture.—Herbaceous or suffruticose.
plants, commonly more or less canescent; the hairs often fixed by the middle.*
Leaves unequally pinnate, with numerous leaflets. Stipules often adnate to
the base of the piticle. Flowers spiked or racemose, rarely solitary.
§ 1. Stipules not adnate to the petiole; flowers purple or white.—Purpu-
rascentes, DC.
* Stipules partly cohering with each other opposite the petiole.
1. A. Hypoglottis (Linn.); procumbent, diffuse, somewhat hirsute; stipules
lanceolate, more or less cohering; leaflets 8- 10-12 pairs, obovate or
elliptical; spikes capitate; peduncles longer than the leaves; bracts longer
than the blackish pilose calyx; teeth of the calyx as long as the tube; legume
ovate, triquetrous, erect, capitate; cells mostly 1-seeded. Eng. hot. t. 274;
DC. Astrag. t. 14, prodr. 2. p. 281; Hook.! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 148.
0.? polyspermus: dwarfish and much branched, somewhat decumbent,
pubescent; leaflets elliptical and obvate-oblong, sometimes emarginate;
peduncles as long as the leaves; calyx longer than the bracts, very hirsute,
the hairs partly black; the teeth scarcely half as long as the tube;
legume oblong; cells 3-4-seeded.—A. Hypoglottis, Nutt.! gen. 2. p. 99;
* He Candolle {prodr. 2. p. 294) notices the centrally-fixed hairs of Astragalus
asper, and employs the character in his diagnosis of that species. He intimates
also {in mem. Leg.') that the same kind of hairs exist in some other Astragali. We
have observed them in many of the species in which the pubescence is appressed ;
particularly in the following :•—A. Mortoni, Nutt. ; Leontinus, Jacq..; Austriacus
Linn.; subulatus, Bieb.; corniculatus, Bieb.; ceratoides, Bieb. ; virgatus, Fall. ;
Hyrcanus, Pall.; brachylobus, DC. ; Stevenianus, DC. ; linearifolius, Pers. ; Ono-
brychis, Litm. ; aduncus, Bieb.; adsurgens, Pall.; Laxmanni, Pall.; Missouri-
ensis, Nutt. ; megalanthus, DC. ; albicaulis, DC. ; hamosus, Linn. ; microphyllus
Linn- ; depressus, Lawn. ; Canadensis, Linn. ; uliginosus, Linn. ; Massilerisis'
Lam. ; ammodyte3, Pall.; Monspessulanus, Lirm. ; & incanus, Linn.
To rr.! in am . lyc. New-York, 2. p. 179. A. dasyglottis, N u tt.! mss., not
of Ledeb. ?
On the Saskatchewan, and other parts of British America, Drummond !
Douglas, y. On the Platte, and near the sources of the Canadian,
Nuttall! Dr. James! May.—If Stem 3-6 inches long. Leaflets
about ha f an inch long, often emarginate. Bracts lanceolate. Teeth of the
calyx subulate. Corolla bright purple. Ovary somewhat tomentose (in 0,.
villous), with 14-16 ovules.—Our /?, is near A. Onobrychoides, and is probably
the Astragalus from Altai noticed by Hooker, in which the legumes are
4-8-seeded.
2. A. pauciflora (Hook.) : decumbent, canescent with appressed hairs;
lower stipules cohering to the summit; leaflets 3-5 pairs, oblong, acute ; peduncles
about as long as the leaves, 2-4-flowered; flowers (small) in loose
racemes; bracts as long as the pedicels; calyx clothed with whitish: hairs,
the teeth as long as the tube. Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 149.
Among rocks in the more elevated regions of the Rocky Mountains,
Drummond■—H Root long and slender: caudex divided and throwing off
several slender decumbent stems from a span to a loot in length. Leaflets
3-4 lines long. Upper stipules large, cohering only below. Peduncles 1-1 i
inch long. Calyx short, campanulate. Petals deep blue. Legume unknown.
Hook.
3. A. vaginatus (Pall.): erect, pubescent; leaflets linear-lanceolate, acute;
peduncles longer than the leaves; flowers in dense spikes, nodding; legumes
linear, straight. DC.—Pall. Astrag. t. 36, ex DC. prodr. 2. p. 283; Hook. fl.
Bor.-Am. 1. p. 149.
Wooded country of Subarctic America, Richardson.—Very similar in
habit to Phaea Aboriginorum, Hook. Flowers White and purple. DC.—A
native also of Siberia.
** Stipules neither cohering with each other nor adnate to the petiole: flowers purple
or white, distant: leguines straight:
4. A. gracilis (Nutt.) : erect, slender, pubescent; leaflets 6-10 pairs, linear,
remote, truncate or emarginate ; racemes much longer than the leaves;
legumes elliptical, straight, somewhat triquetrous, nodding, pubescent, one-
celled, the lower suture a little infleXed.—N u tt.! gen. 2. p. 100 (excl. syn.);'
DC. prodr. 2. p. 284. Dalea parviflora, Pursh ! 1. c. p. 739.
Plains of the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains, Bradbury! Nuttall!
Dr. Jartt.es ! May.—About 2 feet high. Leaflets f- of an inch long, scarcely
one line wide. Stipules ovate, acuminate. Spike 2-3 inches long ; the
lower flowers remote. Flowers 3-4 lines long, somewhat secund, pale purple.
Bracts lanceolate, scarcely longer than the short pedic'els. Calyx canes-
cently hirsute. VeXillum obovate, emarginate. “ Legume about 2 lines
long, many-seeded, acuminated with the recurved style.” Nuttall.—A. tenel-
lus, Pursh, which has been referred to this species, was founded, according
to Pursh, suppl. 2. p. 789, on the leaves of his Ervum multiflorum and the
fruit of an unknown Astragalus.
5. A. stettophyllus; erect, glabrous ; leaflets 4-7 pair's, linear, remote ; racemes
oblong, loose, short, pedunculate, longer than the leaves; stipules small
ovate, rather obtuse ; pedicels longer than the minute lanceolate bracts ; calyx
pilose with blackish hairs; the teeth rather obtuse, much shorter than the
tube.—A. leptophyllus, N u tt.! in four. acad. Philad. 1. p. 18, not of Desf.
Head-waters of the Missouri, Mr. Wyeth f June.—A foot or more hio-h.
Stem rather stout, striate (scarcely angular), obtuse, slightly hirsute beneath!'
Raceme about 10-flowered. Flowers half an inch long, purplish ? (ochroleu-
cous i Nutt.) Teeth of the calyx about one-third the length o f the tuhe
42“