Astragalus tener var. titi (Eastw.) Barneby

Dwarf and slender, the 1-3 stems (2) 3-12 cm. long; vesture of the herbage sometimes more loosely strigulose than in var. tener; leaves 2-7 cm. long, with mostly 7-11 (13) obovate-cuneate or oblanceolate, retuse, leaflets; peduncles 2-4 cm. long; racemes 2-7-flowered; calyx 2.7-3.5 mm. long, the disc 0.3-0.6 mm. deep, the tube 1.6-2 mm. long, 1.4-1.7 mm. in diameter, the teeth 0.9-1.5 mm. long; banner 2.6-4 mm. wide; wings 4.5-5 mm. long, the claws 1.4-1.7 mm., the blades 3.3-3.8 mm. long, 1.1—1.6 mm. wide; keel-claws 1.5-1.6 mm., the blades 2.1-2.5 mm. long, 1.3-1.5 mm. wide; pod (6) 7-14 mm. long, 1.7-2.7 mm. in diameter, straight or slightly decurved, strigulose or rarely villosulous.— Collections: 8 (o); representative: E. K. Abbott (from Monterey) s. num. (CAS); Abrams 3251 (CAS, DS, GH, NY, WS); Jones 3155 (CAS, GH, NY, POM); Purer 7466 (WIS), 7479 (SD).

Moist, sandy depressions of bluffs or dunes along and near the Pacific Ocean, 50 feet or lower, rare and seldom collected, the known stations scattered: Monterey Bay (Moss Beach; Monterey; Pacific Grove); San Luis Obispo County (s. loc.); coast of Los Angeles plain (Santa Monica; Hyde Park—probably extinct); near San Diego (Soledad; Silver Strand).—Map No. 148.—Late March to May.

Astragalus tener var. Titi (Eastw.) Barneby in El Aliso 2: 209. 1950, based on A. Titi (Dr. Frank H. Titus, b. 1851, San Francisco physician) Eastw. in Bull. Torr. Club 32: 195. 1905. Collected by Dr. F. H. Titus ... on the Seventeen Mile Drive at Monterey, California, about four miles from Pacific Grove..." The type specimens were collected by Mrs. Joseph Clemens, May 8, 1904.—Holotypus, from Moss Beach, Monterey County, CAS! isotypus, UC!

The var. Titi differs from typical A. tener in its smaller flowers and its ecology. On the shores of Monterey Bay the pod is uniformly small, about 6—9 mm. long, and only 5—6-ovulate, and varies from strigulose to villosulous, sometimes in the same population (Abbott, CAS). In the disjunct localities in southern California the pod tends to be longer and up to 11-ovulate. Possibly two minor entities are involved, but I have too little evidence to estimate their importance.