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Photo is of parent taxon

Lepage's milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

cotton's milkvetch

Stems

sprawling to ascending, (8–)24–40 cm.

decumbent to ascending, 10–17 cm.

Leaves

3–9 cm;

sessile or petiolate;

leaflets (5–)9–15, blades elliptic to lanceolate, lanceolate-oblong, linear-lanceolate, or linear, 6–33 mm, apex acute to apiculate, surfaces glabrous, strigulose, pilosulous, or villous.

(1.5–)2–5.5 cm;

subsessile;

leaflets 9–15(or 17), blades linear-elliptic to elliptic-oblanceolate, 4–16 mm, apex acute to subacute, surfaces usually villosulous, sometimes glabrate adaxially.

Racemes

densely to loosely 8–29(–32)-flowered;

axis 3–14 cm in fruit.

densely 11–21-flowered;

axis 2–6 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

(4–)4.5–10 cm.

3–6.5 cm.

Flowers

(10.5–)11.5–13.8(–14.5) mm;

calyx (4.7–)4.8–6.5 mm, tube 2.8–5 mm, lobes (1–)1.4–2.4 mm.

10–12.2 mm;

calyx 7–8.4 mm, tube 3.8–4.4 mm, lobes 3–4 mm;

corolla creamy white.

Corollas

whitish to purplish.

Legumes

obliquely ellipsoid to narrowly oblong, (10–)15–30 × (3–)6–8.5 mm, glabrous;

stipe (3–)5–7 mm.

semi-ellipsoid, bladdery-inflated, 20–25 × 7–9(–11) mm, glabrous;

stipe 3–5 mm.

Seeds

10–15.

2n

= 16.

Astragalus australis var. lepagei

Astragalus australis var. olympicus

Phenology Flowering Jun–Jul. Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Spits, gravel bars, slopes, ridge crests, in mixed tundra. Limestone ridge tops and talus.
Elevation 0–400 m. (0–1300 ft.) 1300–1700 m. (4300–5600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; YT
from FNA
WA
Discussion

Variety olympicus is geographically isolated in the Olympic Mountains in Clallam County and is the most distinctive variety within the Astragalus australis complex in North America, yet its inflated fruits approach those of populations of var. lepagei.

Astragalus australis var. cottonii (M. E. Jones) S. L. Welsh is a superfluous name that pertains here.

Variety olympicus is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Hemiphragmium > Astragalus australis Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Hemiphragmium > Astragalus australis
Sibling taxa
A. australis var. glabriusculus, A. australis var. muriei, A. australis var. olympicus
A. australis var. glabriusculus, A. australis var. lepagei, A. australis var. muriei
Synonyms A. lepagei A. olympicus, A. cottonii
Name authority (Hultén) S. L. Welsh: Great Basin Naturalist 58: 47. (1998) Isely: Syst. Bot. 8: 421. (1983)
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