Astragalus Douglasii var. glaberrimus

Growth-habit of var. Douglasii, the stems diffuse and weakly assurgent, up to 6 dm. long, sparsely strigulose or nearly glabrous, the stems and herbage green; leaflets (7) 13-19, lanceolate, lance- or linear-elliptic, acute (or if subobtuse mucronulate), 7-28 mm. long; calyx 4.8-7.4 (8) mm. long, the tube 3.1—4.2 mm. long, 2.5-3.4 mm. in diameter, the subulate teeth 1.5-3.4 (4) mm. long, the whole thinly and uniformly strigulose; banner 9-11 mm. long; wings (0.9-1.5 mm. shorter than the banner) 8-9.7 mm. long, the claws 2.5-3.5 mm., the blades 5.5-6.5 mm. long; keel (0.5-0.8 mm. shorter than the wings) 7.2-9.2 mm, long, the claws 2.3-4 mm., the blades 4.7-5.7 mm. long; pod exactly as in var. Douglasii but glabrous, (2.8) 3.2-5.5 cm. long, 1.5-2.5 cm. in diameter; ovules 22-36 (average about 32).—Collections: 10 (o); representative: Wiggins 4400 (CAS, DS, NY, POM), 5319 (CAS, DS, NY, UC); Raven, Mathias & Turner 12,596 (CAS).

Gravelly desert washes, mostly below 1600 feet, apparently local, known chiefly from the north end of the Viscaino Desert in lat. 29° 20'-30° N., Baja California (distr. Norte), and from two stations (near La Grulla) at 4200-6700 feet in Sierra San Pedro Martir.—Map No. 113.—March to June.

Astragalus Douglasii var. glaberrimus (very glabrous) Jones in Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. II, 5: 645. 1895.—"Los Huevelos [a misreading of Las Huevitas,—cf. Madrono 11: 254], Lower California, 1889; Brandegee; also at San Fernando... "—Holotypus (from Las Huevitas), CAS!—Phaca glaberrima (Jones) Rydb. in N. Amer. Fl. 24 : 345. 1929. (Non A. glaberrimus Sirj. & Rech. fil., 1953).

The var. glaberrimus creates a strong impression of individuality, but I can find no feature of the flower or fruit structure which cannot be duplicated somewhere in A. Douglasii sens. lat. Its most remarkable characteristic is the small number of ovules in proportion to the great size of the bladdery fruits. Although the variety closely resembles the more glabrous states of var. Douglasii in habit of growth, its flowers and leaflets are on the average fewer, while the latter tend to be narrower and furthermore are all or nearly all acute. It differs from var. Parishii in its thinly pubescent, long-toothed calyx and is evidently further removed from the other varieties of A. Douglasii than these are one from another. Possibly when better known it will deserve specific rank, but it will then require a new epithet.

All but two collections of var. glaberrimus known to me came from the Viscaino Desert in the general region of Cataviná and Santa María, where Raven reports it as consorting with Idria and Yucca in stony washes. The records from 4200-6700 feet in Sierra San Pedro Martir (Wiggins & Demaree 4867, NY; Moran 11,147, NY) are quite surprising, although the enormous bladdery fruits can no doubt be transported great distances by wind and an occasional establishment outside its normal range and environment expected.