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Photo is of parent taxon

cotton's milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

Lepage's milkvetch

Stems

decumbent to ascending, 10–17 cm.

sprawling to ascending, (8–)24–40 cm.

Leaves

(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.

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.

Racemes

densely 11–21-flowered;

axis 2–6 cm in fruit.

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

axis 3–14 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

3–6.5 cm.

(4–)4.5–10 cm.

Flowers

10–12.2 mm;

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

corolla creamy white.

(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.

Corollas

whitish to purplish.

Legumes

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

stipe 3–5 mm.

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

stipe (3–)5–7 mm.

Seeds

10–15.

2n

= 16.

Astragalus australis var. olympicus

Astragalus australis var. lepagei

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Limestone ridge tops and talus. Spits, gravel bars, slopes, ridge crests, in mixed tundra.
Elevation 1300–1700 m. (4300–5600 ft.) 0–400 m. (0–1300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
WA
from FNA
AK; YT
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. lepagei, A. australis var. muriei
A. australis var. glabriusculus, A. australis var. muriei, A. australis var. olympicus
Synonyms A. olympicus, A. cottonii A. lepagei
Name authority Isely: Syst. Bot. 8: 421. (1983) (Hultén) S. L. Welsh: Great Basin Naturalist 58: 47. (1998)
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