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Photo is of parent taxon

Mount Dana kentrophyta, spiny milkvetch, Sweetwater Mountains. milk vetch

Habit Plants prostrate, mat- or cushion-forming, to 15 cm wide.
Stems

and herbage strigulose, hairs basifixed.

Leaves

0.4–1.5(–2) cm;

stipules somewhat dimorphic, 2–7 mm;

leaflets 3(–7), blades 3–7 mm.

Peduncles

0.2–0.6 cm.

Flowers

4–5.6 mm;

calyx 2.4–3.2 mm, tube 1.6–1.9 mm, lobes subulate to setaceous, 0.8–1.3 mm;

corolla purple or whitish and keel purple.

Legumes

subsymmetrically lenticular, 3.5–5 × 2–2.5 mm.

Seeds

5–8.

2n

= 24.

Astragalus kentrophyta var. danaus

Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Gravelly slopes and talus upward from timberline, or in bristle-cone pine forest.
Elevation 3000–4000 m. (9800–13100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety danaus is restricted to high elevations in the southern Sierra Nevada.

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

Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Ervoidei > Astragalus kentrophyta
Sibling taxa
A. kentrophyta var. coloradoensis, A. kentrophyta var. douglasii, A. kentrophyta var. elatus, A. kentrophyta var. jessiae, A. kentrophyta var. kentrophyta, A. kentrophyta var. neomexicanus, A. kentrophyta var. tegetarius, A. kentrophyta var. ungulatus
Synonyms A. tegetarius var. danaus
Name authority (Barneby) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 154. (1951)
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