Rocky Mountain Milkvetch

Tium stenolobum Rydberg, sp. nov
A cespitose perennial, with a thick woody root; stems numerous, erect, 2-3 dm. high, strigose with mixed white and black hairs; leaves ascending, 4-7 cm. long, the rachis sulcate, strigose, lower stipules ovate or deltoid, cunate, scarious, the upper ones herbaceous, lanceolate, attenuate, 5-8 mm. long, black-ciliate; leaflets 15-21, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, 5-15 mm. long, 2-4 mm. wide, glabrous above, strigose beneath; peduncles erect, 5-12 cm. long, black-hairy; racemes 3-7 cm. long; bracts subulate, 4-8 mm. long, less than 1 mm. wide, attenuate; pedicels 2 mm. long; calyx rather densely black-hairy, the tube gibbous at the base on the upper side, 7-8 mm. long, the teeth narrowly subulate, almost filiform, dilated only at the base, 5-6 mm. long; corolla ochroleucous, about 2 cm. long; banner oblanceolate, notched at the end; wings shorter, the blade obliquely oblanceolate, shorter than the claw, with a small auricle; keel-petals much shorter, the blade broadly lunate, broader and more arched at the upper end, rounded at the apex; pod glabrous, the stipe about equaling the calyx-tube, the body linear, acute at each end, 2.5-3 cm. long, inverted V-shaped in cross-section.
Type collected in the Sandia Mountains, on the eastern slope of Palomas, New Mexico, Charlotte C. Ellis 326 (U. S. Nat. Herb.).
Distribution: Known only from the type locality.

Tium scopulorum (Porter) Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 32: 659. 1906.
Astragalus scopulorum Porter; Porter & Coult. Syn. Fl. Colo. 24. 1874.
Astragalus subcompressus A. Gray; Brand. Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. 2: 234. 1876.
Tragacantha scopulorum Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 948. 1891.
Tragacantha subcompressa Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 948. 1891.
Astragalus rasus Sheldon, Minn. Bot. Stud. 1: 158. 1894.
A perennial, with a woody root and cespitose caudex; stems decumbent at the base, 3-6 dm. high, glabrous or sparingly strigose, angled; leaves ascending, 5-7 cm. long, the rachis sparingly strigose or glabrate; stipules deltoid, green, 5-7 mm. long; leaflets 11-27, oblong or elliptic, 8-15 mm. long, 3-7 mm. wide, obtuse or rounded at the apex, glabrous above, sparingly strigose or glabrate beneath; peduncles 5-10 cm. long; racemes 3-5 cm. long; bracts subulate, 3-5 mm. long; flowers drooping; pedicels about 5 mm. long; calyx more or less black-hairy, the tube 6-7 mm. long, 3 mm. broad, the teeth subulate, 3 mm. long; corolla white, about 2 cm. long; banner lanceolate, notched at the apex, moderately arched at the middle; wings about 18 mm. long, the blade narrowly oblanceolate, falcate, with a large reflexed auricle; keel-petals about 15 mm. long, the blade shorter than the claw, obliquely obovate, abruptly arched near the blunt apex; pod glabrous, stipitate, the stipe 6-7 mm. long, the body linear, falcate, 2-2.5 cm. long, 5 mm. wide, and 4 mm. thick, abruptly acute at each end, the upper suture acute, the lower deeply sulcate, the cross-section cordate, the septum 2-2.5 mm. wide, nearly meeting the upper suture.
Type locality: Wet Mountain Valley, Colorado.
Distribution: Colorado, New Mexico and southeastern Utah.

Perennial, Herbs, Stems woody below, or from woody crown or caudex, Plants with rhizomes or suckers, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems erect or ascending, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems less than 1 m tall, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules membranous or chartaceous, Stipules persistent, Stipules connate to each other, forming a tuber or sheath, Leaves compound, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx hairy, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals clawed, Petals ochroleucous, cream colored, Banner petal narrow or oblanceolate, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel petals auriculate, spurred, or gibbous, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens diadelphous, 9 united, 1 free, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Style persistent in fruit, Fruit a legume, Fruit stipitate, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit or valves persistent on stem, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit beaked, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit 11-many seeded, Seeds cordiform, mit-shaped, notched at one end, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.