lowest leaves much ^mailer and glabrous. Flowers (nearly as large as in P.
astragalina) in close 10-15-flowered heads, which at length elongate into
short spikes, pale purple.” Nuttall.—This may perhaps be P. elegans fi.
minor of Hooker; but that species is said to have the flowers considerably
smaller than those of P. astragalina, and of a far deeper color.' The fruit is
unknown.
14. P. Aboriginorum (Hook.): softly canescently pubescent; stem erect,
somewhat branched, striate; leaves mostly sessile; leaflets about 5 pairs, oblong
lanceolate or linear, rather obtuse, sessile; stipules ovate, membranaceous,
the lowermost united, rather large; peduncles twice the length of the
leaves; racemes oblong, 15—20-flowered (flowers white tinged with blue);
legumes glabrous, obliquely elliptical, inflated, membranaceous, acute, raised
on a slender stipe about twice the length of the calyx— Hook. ! ft. Bor.-Am.
1. p. 143, t. 66. Astragalus Aboriginorum, Richards.! app. Frankl. journ.
&d. 2. p. 28.
Lake Winnipeg to the Rocky Mountains, and north to Bear Lake in lat.
66°, Richardson ! Drummond !— Root long, yellowish, similar to that of
Glycyrrhiza, from which rise numerous almost simple stems, a foot high.
Leaflets about an inch long, often alternate, rarely somewhat verticillate, villous
can escent with a close very soft white pubescence. Racemes rather
loose; the pedicels ascending or a little spreading, recurved in fruit. Calyx
and pedicels hirsute with blackish or brownish hairs. Legumes canescent
when young, at length glabrous; straight along the upper suture, which is
slightly mtroflexed, curved along the dorsal suture, pointed. “ The Crees and
Stone Indians gather its roots in the spring as an article of food.” Richardson.
15. P • glahriiiscula (Hook.): glabrous or slightly hairy;.stem erect, nearly
simple, striate ; leaflets 5-6 pairs, linear-lanceolate, rather acute; stipules
ovate, acute, the lowermost connate, rather large ; legumes (not mature) on
a rather long stipe, lanceolate-falcate, compressed, membranaceous, glabrous.
Ffpok.ft. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 144. ’ .
Values of the Rocky Mountains, Drummond.—ce General aspect very similar
to the preceding, of which perhaps it may be a variety ; but it is almost
entirely glabrous, smaller, the fruit more falcate,”&c. Hook.
16. P. Douglasii: very slightly hairy: stem (erect?) flexuous, angled
and striate; leaflets 10—13 pairs, narrowly elliptical or linear-oblong1, obtuse
slightly petiolulate, beneath (especially the midrib and margins) minutely
hairy; stipules very small, triangular; peduncles about as long as the leaves;
racemes few-(6—10-) and loosely-flowered; calyx campanulate, the teeth
acute and shorter than the tube; legumes (immature) sessile, ovate pointed
membranaceous,, inflated, the upper suture a little introflexed.
California, Douglas !—Upper leaves sessile. Leaflets rather thick and
rigid, i - 5- of an inch long, about 2 lines,broad. Flowers about as large as in
P . Aboriginorum, white ? Calyx minutely hirsute with whitish hairs. Legume
(young) about an inch in length, puberulent with appressed hairs.—We
have not seen the full-grown fruit. 17 *
17. P. longifolia (Nutt, mss.) : canescently pflberulent; stem erect, slender,
branching; lower petioles short, pinnately 3- 5-foliolate, with narrowly
linear leaflets; the upper ones elongated and filiform, mostly leafless; stipules
lanceolate-subulate, the lowermost united, the upper ones - distinct; racemes
on filiform peduncles shorter than the petioles, 7-10-flowered ; legumes membranaceous
and much inflated (large, spotted), ovate-globose, stipitate glabrous.—
Psoralea longifolia, Pursh ! fi. 2. p. 741; DC. prodr. 2 p 220
Orobus longifolius, Nutt. gen. 2. p. 95. O.? longifolius, DC. 1. c. «'480 •
T o r r.! in ann. lyc. New- York, 2. p. 180.
Sand-hills on the banks of the Missouri, Bradbury ! Nuttall; and along
the Platte to the Rocky Mountains, Nuttall, Dr. Jam,es! May.—Roots filiform,
creeping. Leaflets of the lower leaves an inch or more in length : the
upper petioles often a span long, commonly destitute of leaflets, or somewhat
foliaceous at the apex; occasionally 3-5-foliolate.—Mr. Nuttall compares the
leaves to those of Indigofera filifolia. He states the flowers (which do not
exist on our specimens)to be pale red. The mature pods are about an inch
and a half in length, borne on a short stipe about the length of the calyx. On
page 300 of this work, this species has been inadvertently introduced under
the original name of Pursh. The mature fruit was first collected by Dr.
James. The plant is similar in habit to several species of Mr. Nuttall’s genus
Homalobus.
* * Legumes coriaceous or cartilaginous.
f Flowers white or purplish.
18. P. pectinata (Hook.) : canescently puberulent or nearly glabrous ; stems
thick, branching, ascending, striate ; leaves subsessile, rigid; leaflets 6-10
pairs, very narrowly linear, rather acute, persistent (not articulated with the rachis)
; stipules triangular-acuminate, partly united opposite the petioles ; racemes
about 13-flowered, longer than the leaves, on thick peduncles ; flowers
large (white), at length recurved ; legumes sessile, ovoid, pointed, turgid,
thick and cartilaginous, transversely rugose, the upper suture much thickened
.—Hook. ! Jl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 142, t. 54.
fi. stem more flexuous ; leaves filiform. Hook. ! 1. c.
Pastures of the Saskatchawan, Drummond ! Douglas ! Also in plains
along streams in the Rocky Mountains, near the sources of the Platte, Nuttall
!—Stems about a foot high, naked below, very leafy above, fistulous.
Leaves pectinately divided rather than pinnate : leaflets perfectly continuous
with the rachis, which is sometimes forked at the apex instead of bearing
a terminal leaflet. Flowers three-fourths of an inch in length. Calyx
cylindraceous ; the teeth very short. Vexillum obovate-oblong, much longer
than the other petals. Legumes 12-14-seeded.
19. P. collina. (Hook.): erect or diffuse, hairy; leaflets 9-11 pairs, narrowly
linear, obtuse, attenuate at the base into a short partial petiole ; stipules
very small, oblong, acuminate ; peduncles twice the length of the
leaves; racemes oblong, dense, with the flowers refracted; calyx tubular
densely hirsute ; vexillum about the length of the wings ; legumes (immature)
linear, pubescent, stipitate, deflexed. Hook. ft. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 141.
On the subalpine range of the Blue Mountains, in dry soils, Douglas.
June-July.—“ Stem a foot or more high. Leaflets remote, an inch long, obtuse
orretuse. Corolla white, apparently with a large purple spot on each
petal.—Remarkable for its narrow linear leaves, for the sudden deflexion of
the flower from the summit of the erect pedicel, for the elongated tube of
the calyx, and for the short vexillum.” Hook.—We have not seen this species.
It perhaps belongs to Mr. Nuttall’s genus Homalobus.
20. P. podocarpa (Hook ) : canescent, much branched, diffuse ; stem and
branches striate ; leaflets 6-9 pairs, broadly linear, obtuse; stipules ovate
acuminate, very small ; peduncles longer than the leaves ; racemes loose •
legumes oblong, coriaceous, compressed, hirsute with appressed hairs acuminate,
attènuate at the. base into a long stipe ; the sutures much thickened
the upper one straight, the lower arcuate. Hook. 1. c. p. 142.
Dry barren and sandy grounds at the Great Falls of the Oregon • rare
Douglas. June-Aug.—“ This stands marked in Mr. Douglas’s collection as
■a new genus, and there is indeed something remarkable in the appearance
of its legumes, compressed as they are, and thickened at the sutures both