Astragalus purshii |
Astragalus hoodianus |
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Pursh's milkvetch, woollypod milkvetch |
Hood River milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, acaulescent to shortly caulescent, densely villous to villous-tomentose, hairs basifixed. | Plants perennial, subacaulescent or shortly caulescent, strigose, villosulous, or pilosulose, hairs basifixed. |
Stems | prostrate, loosely to densely tufted, 0–20 cm. |
several, ascending to erect; in clumps, 15–45 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. |
(5)7–20 cm; leaflets 25–37, linear-elliptic, oblong, oblanceolate to ovate-oblong, 5–27 × 1.5–5 mm; tips obtuse; acute or retuse; surfaces pubescent; terminal leaflet often confluent with rachis; stipules (3)5–11 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 oval or oblong; soon elongating, densely (6)10–30-flowered; peduncles 12–30 cm; bracts 2–9.5 mm; pedicels 1–3.7 mm; bracteoles 0–2. |
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). |
spreading to ascending at anthesis; calyces 10–15 mm, strigillose-pilosulose with all black or mixture of black and white hairs; tubes 5.7–7.9 mm; teeth lanceolate or lance-caudate; (2.6)4.6–7 mm; corollas 18–23 mm, cream, unspotted; ovules 16–20. |
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. |
unilocular or incompletely bilocular; erect, broadly oblong-ovoid to narrowly oblong-ellipsoid, |
± | straight, obcompressed, 11–22 × 4.5–7.2 mm, hirsutulose or villosulous; valves coriaceous to subligneous; stipes 0. |
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Astragalus purshii |
Astragalus hoodianus |
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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. |
Grassy, rocky or sandy slopes. Flowering Apr–Jun. 50–700 m. Col, ECas. WA. Native. |
Source | Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 671 Richard Halse |
Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 665 Richard Halse |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Astragalus purshii var. ophiogenes | Astragalus conjunctus var. oxytropidoides, Astragalus reventus var. oxytropidoides, Cnemidophacos knowlesianus |
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