Astragalus canadensis var. brevidens
Astragalus canadensis var. mortonii
Canada milk-vetch, Canadian milk-vetch, pasture milkvetch, short tooth milk vetch, short-tooth Canadian milkvetch
Canada milk-vetch, Canadian milk-vetch, Morton's Canadian milkvetch, Morton's milkvetch
branched, slender, sometimes decumbent and ascending, (10–)15–55(–75) cm.
unbranched, relatively slender, (25–)30–70(–90) cm.
5–15(–23) cm;
leaflets (7–)15–23(or 25), blades (5–)7–30(–40) mm, apex usually apiculate.
(3–)6–19(–22.5) cm;
leaflets (9–)13–19(or 21), blades 10–45(–50) mm, thin.
(2.5–)4–9.5(–15) × 2.5–3.5 cm, flowers (11.7–)12.5–17(–17.5) mm.
sometimes interrupted proximally, 2.5–12 × 2.7–3.5 cm, flowers (12.6–)13.2–16.5 mm.
stout, (4–)5–15(–20) cm, longer or shorter than leaves.
rather slender, 6–22 cm.
1.2–3.5(–4) mm.
1.4–2 mm.
calyx (6.8–)7.1–10.5(–11) mm, lobes 1–2.5(–3) mm, adaxial pair nearly always broadly triangular or deltate (and mostly shorter) than the rest;
corolla ochroleucous, stramineous, or greenish white.
calyx (6.5–)7.4–10.5(–11) mm, lobes (1.5–)2–4.4 mm, adaxial pair usually not much broader (though sometimes shorter) than the rest;
corolla greenish white or ochroleucous.
grooved dorsally, (9–)10–15 × 2.9–4(–4.5) mm, beak 1.5–3 mm, mostly at least moderately strigulose;
septum 1.5–3 mm wide.
grooved dorsally, (9–)11–20 × 3–5 mm, beak (3–)3.5–5 mm, thinly strigose or glabrate;
septum (2–)2.5–3.4 mm wide.
(17 or)18–25(–28).
(16–)18–26.
(3–)4–14 mm, proximalmost ruptured in some very robust specimens.
3.5–11(–14) mm, proximalmost persistent, not ruptured.
= 16.
= 16.
Astragalus canadensis var. brevidens
Astragalus canadensis var. mortonii
Variety brevidens is the more xeric form of Astragalus canadensis. It is partly sympatric with var. mortonii, but var. mortonii is usually of higher, more mesic, wooded habitats. No single feature distinguishes vars. brevidens and mortonii. In Utah, var. brevidens intergrades with var. canadensis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
A. Gray (1864), under the discussion of Astragalus mortonii, cited both A. spicatus Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray (an illegitimate name, not Pallas 1773), and A. tristis Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray (see synonymy of var. brevidens), but considered ovary and legume pubescence as the primary distinguishing feature. This is commonly an elongate, slender plant with thin-textured foliage of forested regions within its range. The flowers vary in color from greenish white to cream, sometimes suffused with purple, but dry to cream or brownish. Flowers are ascending in bud but soon become spreading to declined, until in fruit they are erect-ascending.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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