Astragalus flavus var. argillosus |
Astragalus sect. Ocreati |
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clay milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants forming loose tufts. | Herbs perennial, selenophytes, loosely tufted, ill-scented, caulescent; caudex usually superficial. |
Stems | several to many. |
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Leaves | odd-pinnate, petiolate; leaflets (5 or)7–21, terminal leaflet usually jointed, rarely confluent. |
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Racemes | densely or loosely flowered, flowers ascending. |
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Peduncles | 5–10 cm. |
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Flowers | 9–10.5 mm; calyx 6–10 mm, hirsute, tube 3–4.5 mm; corolla usually reddish lilac, reddish purple, or blue, rarely white. |
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Corollas | whitish to cream, lemon yellow, ochroleucous, reddish to lilac, or pink-purple, banner recurved through 45(–90)°, keel apex obtuse. |
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Calyx | tubes campanulate or turbinate-campanulate. |
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Legumes | eventually deciduous, sessile, erect, ascending, or spreading, ovoid or oblong to ellipsoid, compressed dorsiventrally, laterally, or obcompressed, unilocular. |
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Seeds | 8–11. |
4–17. |
Hairs | basifixed or malpighian. |
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Stipules | connate or distinct at distal nodes. |
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Astragalus flavus var. argillosus |
Astragalus sect. Ocreati |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | |
Habitat | Cretaceous Mancos Shale and Jurassic Summerville, Cedar Mountain, and Morrison formations, on saline clays and silts with salt desert shrubs. | |
Elevation | 1200–1800 m. (3900–5900 ft.) | |
Distribution |
UT |
w United States |
Discussion | Variety argillosus is common in east-central Utah. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species 3 (3 in the flora). Section Ocreati consists of two subsections distributed from southern Nevada eastward and northward to northern New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. The subsections are: subsect. Ocreati (A. Gray) Barneby (Astragalus flavus, A. sophoroides); and subsect. Moencoppenses Barneby (A. moencoppensis). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. argillosus | |
Name authority | (M. E. Jones) Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13: 401. (1964) | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 6: 201. (1864) |
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