Astragalus spatulatus |
Astragalus tetrapterus |
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four-wing milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, caulescent, strigillose, hairs basifixed. | |
Stems | several, ascending to erect, becoming decumbent in fruit, 10–35(45) cm. |
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Leaves | 1.5–9 cm; leaflets 9–23, linear, narrowly oblong or elliptic, 1–33 × 0.3–3.2 mm; tips obtuse to acute; surfaces glabrous to strigose; terminal leaflets confluent with rachis in the uppermost leaves; stipules 2–5.5 mm; free. |
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Inflorescences | racemes 6–15-flowered; peduncles 1–6.5 cm; bracts 1.5–3.5 mm; pedicels 1.4–4.3 mm; bracteoles 0–2. |
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Flowers | ascending at anthesis; calyces (4)5.5–8.7 mm, strigose with black or mixture of black and white hairs; tubes 3.5–7 mm; teeth subulate or triangular, 0.5–2.8 mm; corollas 15–19 mm, white to yellowish and pink or bright pink-purple-tinged; keel faintly to darkly purple-tipped; ovules 28–42. |
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Fruits | unilocular, declined or pendulous, obliquely oblong or clavate-oblong, curved or coiled, strongly carinate, obcompressed early, becoming sharply tetragonal and 4-winged; wings up to 2.5 mm wide at maturity; (16)20–40 × (4)6–10 mm, glabrous to strigose; valves stiffly papery to subcoriaceous; stipes 0. |
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2n | =22. |
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Astragalus spatulatus |
Astragalus tetrapterus |
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Distribution | ||
Discussion | Hillsides of ash-clay-tuff, sandy soils, sagebrush. Flowering May–Jun. 900–1700 m. BR, ECas, Owy. ID, NV; southeast to AZ. Native. The four-winged fruits of this species are unique among Oregon milkvetches. |
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Source | Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 675 Richard Halse |
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Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Astragalus cinerascens, Astragalus tetrapterus var. cinerascens, Astragalus tetrapterus var. tetrapterus | |
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