Astragalus purshii |
Astragalus agrestis |
|
---|---|---|
Pursh's milkvetch, woollypod milkvetch |
field milkvetch, purple milkvetch |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, acaulescent to shortly caulescent, densely villous to villous-tomentose, hairs basifixed. | Plants perennial, caulescent, strigillose to villous-pilose, sometimes sparsely so, hairs basifixed. |
Stems | prostrate, loosely to densely tufted, 0–20 cm. |
few–numerous, decumbent to erect, 5–40 cm. |
Leaves | 1–12(17) cm; leaflets (3)5–17(21), elliptic to oblanceolate, 2–14(20) × 1–7 mm; tips obtuse to acute; surfaces densely villous; stipules 2.5–15 mm; free. |
2–10 cm; leaflets (9)13–23, narrowly elliptic to lance-oblong, 4–18 × 2–5 mm; tips obtuse to retuse or acute; surfaces strigillose; stipules 2–11 mm; at least lowermost connate-sheathing. |
Inflorescences | racemes or subumbels, 1–12-flowered; peduncles 1–14 cm; bracts 4–9 mm; pedicels 2–4.3 mm; bracteoles 0–2. |
racemes ovoid or subcapitate, 5–15(20)-flowered; peduncles 1.5–15 cm; bracts 3–7 mm; pedicels 0.5–1.5 mm; bracteoles 0. |
Flowers | ascending at anthesis; calyces 5.5–16(19) mm, often purple, villous-pilose with white or mixed white and black hairs; tubes 8.5–12.5 mm; teeth subulate, 2.2–6 mm; corollas 19–27 mm; whitish to ochroleucous or pink-purple; ovules 14–40(46). |
ascending to erect at anthesis; calyces 7–12.5 mm, villous with black and white hairs; tubes 5–7.8 mm; teeth linear, 2.5–5.5 mm; corollas (14)17–24 mm, pink, purple, or blue-lavender, or ochroleucous suffused with lilac; ovules 14–26. |
Fruits | unilocular, ascending, obliquely ovoid, usually curved, obcompressed, scarcely to deeply sulcate; (7)13–27(30) × 3.5–11 mm, densely white to tawny tomentose or densely villous; hairs nearly always concealing valve surfaces; valves coriaceous, sessile or on gynophores 0–1.6 mm. |
bilocular, ascending to erect, oblong-elliptic, nearly straight, obcompressed to ± triquetrous, 7–10 × 2.8–4.5 mm; silky white-villous; valves subcoriaceous; stipes 0.3–1 mm. |
Astragalus purshii |
Astragalus agrestis |
|
Distribution | ||
Discussion | Western North America. ~8 varieties; 4 varieties treated in Flora. Throughout western North America, particularly in the Intermountain Region, this is a low, tufted milkvetch with white or gray villous hairs and pods resembling balls of cotton. Barneby (1964) stated, “Attempts to devise a practical key to the varieties of A. purshii are never wholly successful.” Variety ophiogenes, the Snake River milkvetch, a native of Idaho, has been reported from Malheur County, but this is apparently based on misidentifications of A. purshii var. lagopinus. Variety ophiogenes has 3–11-flowered racemes and 9–17 leaflets. |
Wet meadows, streambanks. Flowering Jun–Aug. 1000–1900 m. BR, BW, Owy. CA, ID, NV, WA; north to Yukon, northeast to Quebec, east to IL, southeast to NM; Asia. Native. |
Source | Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 671 Richard Halse |
Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 657 Richard Halse |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Astragalus purshii var. ophiogenes | Astragalus dasyglottis, Astragalus goniatus |
Web links |
|
|