Astragalus purshii |
Astragalus nudisiliquus |
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Pursh's milkvetch, woollypod milkvetch |
cobblestone milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, acaulescent to shortly caulescent, densely villous to villous-tomentose, hairs basifixed. | Plants perennial, caulescent, mat-forming, white tomentose, hairs basifixed. |
Stems | prostrate, loosely to densely tufted, 0–20 cm. |
several–numerous, prostrate; (2)5–25(30) 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. |
3–11 cm; leaflets (7)11–17, broadly obovate; ovate-cuneate or broadly oblanceolate, 4–17 × 2.5–6.5 mm; tips obtuse, emarginate or subacute; surfaces abaxially white tomentose, adaxially tomentose, sometimes more thinly so and greenish; stipules (1.5)3–7 mm; free. |
Inflorescences | racemes or subumbels, 1–12-flowered; peduncles 1–14 cm; bracts 4–9 mm; pedicels 2–4.3 mm; bracteoles 0–2. |
racemes subcapitate; (2)4–8-flowered; peduncles 1–7 cm; bracts (1.5)3–6 mm; pedicels 1.4–3.4 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). |
ascending at anthesis; calyces 12–17(19) mm, often purplish-tinged, thinly villosulous with mainly white hairs; tubes 10–14 mm; teeth subulate or subulate-setaceous; (2)3–5 mm; corollas 19–25.5 mm, pink-purple; ovules 30–41. |
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, ascending, humistrate, obliquely-ovoid or oblong-ellipsoid, obcompressed; (15)20–40(45) × (8)9–13 mm, villous-hirsute; hairs not concealing valve surfaces; valves coriaceous; stipes 0. |
Astragalus purshii |
Astragalus nudisiliquus |
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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. |
Rocky slopes, sandy riverbanks, cobblestone alluvia, eroded slopes with sagebrush. Flowering May–Jun. 600–1400 m. Owy. ID. Native. Astragalus nudisiliquus may resemble A. purshii, but the latter’s valve surfaces are usually completely concealed by dense pubescence. In A. nudisiliquus, the valve surfaces are easily seen through the hairs. |
Source | Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 671 Richard Halse |
Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 670 Richard Halse |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Astragalus purshii var. ophiogenes | |
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