A shrub or small tree. Leaves thick ovate or broadly oval, acute or slightly obtuse, serrulate with short teeth. Flowers ¼ of an inch or more broad, in drooping racemes at the ends of the leafy branches; drupe dark purple or black, globose, over ¼ of an inch in diameter. In thickets in the Rockies, frequent in the vicinity of Banff; flowering in May and early June. PAPILIONACEÆ _Pea Family_ Herbs or vines with alternate, compound leaves and irregular, perfect, yellow, purple, blue, or white flowers, mainly in racemes; calyx 4—5-toothed; petals more or less united or separate, consisting of a broad upper one (standard), two lateral ones (wings), and two front ones more or less united (keel). Herbs; leaves unequally pinnate, not tendril-bearing. Pods not jointed. Keel of the corolla blunt. Pod not much swollen, fleshy, leathery or papery; flowers blue or purple. =Astragalus.= Pods much inflated, membranous; flowers white. =Phaca.= Pods flat, both sutures prominent externally. =Homalobus.= Keel of the corolla acute. =Aragallus.= Pods jointed, flowers purple or white. =Hedysarum.= Herbaceous veins; leaves evenly pinnate, with tendrils. Style slender with a tuft of hairs at the summit. =Vicia.= Style flattened, bearded along the inner side. =Lathyrus.= [Sidenote: =Astragalus adsurgens= Pall. _Ascending Milk-vetch._] Stems whitish with close hairs or nearly smooth, ascending or decumbent, 4—18 inches long, simple or branched at the base. Leaflets 15—25 oval or linear-oblong, sometimes notched at the apex, narrowed at the base, ½—1 inch long; peduncles exceeding the leaves. Flowers purplish, ½—¾ of an inch long in dense short spikes; calyx villous with long partly black hairs, ½ the length of the corolla, with slender teeth, half the length of the campanulate tube. In open ground at low altitudes, probably the most frequent of the vetches on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, often forming great patches of blue during June. [Sidenote: =Astragalus hypoglottis= L. _Purple Milk-vetch._] Hairy or nearly smooth, stems decumbent or ascending, slender, branched at the base, usually low, but ranging from 6—24 inches long. Leaves 2—5 inches long with 17—25 leaflets which are oblong or elliptic, obtusish and usually notched at the apex, rounded at the base ¼—½ an inch long. Flowers violet-purple, ½ to nearly an inch long in dense heads, calyx nearly ⅓ the length with long black and white hairs. Frequent at the lower altitudes, in dry ground and roadsides on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, particularly in the region around Banff; flowering in early June. [Sidenote: =Astragalus alpinus= L. _Alpine Milk-vetch._]