Astragalus misellus var. pauper

Leaves 3-7 cm. long, the leaflets relatively distant and scattered; otherwise as given in the key.—Collections: 3 (o); representative: Whited 84 (US), 291 (WS).

Habitat not recorded, but to be sought in sagebrush scabland at ± 1500 feet, known only from the neighborhood of Ellensburg, Kittitas County, Washington.—- Map No. 52.—April to early June.

Astragalus misellus var. pauper (poor), var. nov., a var. misello eaulibus abbreviatis 1 dm. haud attingentibus, foliolisque paucis (plerumque 11-13, nec 13-21) absimilis.—Washington: Ellensburg, Kittitas County, May 20, 1897, C. V. Piper 2681—Holotypus, NY! isotypus WS!

The var. pauper has all essential features of its species so far as flowers and fruits are concerned, but it is a dwarfer plant than var. misellus, recalling A. (Reventi-arrecti) obscurus or A. (Atrati) salmonis in general habit of growth. As compared with the average plant of var. misellus, the flowers are fewer (mostly 5—10), the stems and herbage are cinereous with slightly longer hairs, and the leaflets are more distantly arranged along the rachis and cinereous on both sides.