Astragalus kentrophyta var. danaus |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. tegetarius |
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Mount Dana kentrophyta, spiny milkvetch, Sweetwater Mountains. milk vetch |
mat milk vetch, mountain kentrophyta |
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Habit | Plants prostrate, mat- or cushion-forming, to 15 cm wide. | Plants prostrate, cushion-forming, 5–40(–50) cm wide. |
Stems | and herbage strigulose, hairs basifixed. |
and herbage densely to sparsely strigulose, villosulous, or villous, hairs basifixed. |
Leaves | 0.4–1.5(–2) cm; stipules somewhat dimorphic, 2–7 mm; leaflets 3(–7), blades 3–7 mm. |
(0.2–)0.4–1.5(–2) cm; stipules 2–7 mm; leaflets (3 or)5–9, blades 1–9 mm, surfaces pubescent or adaxially glabrous or medially glabrescent. |
Peduncles | 0.2–0.6 cm. |
0–1.5(–3) 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. |
(3.9–)4.5–8(–9.2) mm; calyx (2–)2.4–5.7(–7) mm, tube 1.2–2.6(–2.8) mm, lobes subulate to setaceous, (0.5–)1.9–2.6(–4.2) mm; corolla usually purple or purplish, sometimes white and keel tip pink or purplish. |
Legumes | subsymmetrically lenticular, 3.5–5 × 2–2.5 mm. |
ellipsoid or oblong-ellipsoid, (3–)4–8(–9) × (0.6–)2–2.5 mm. |
Seeds | 5–8. |
(3–)5–8. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. danaus |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. tegetarius |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. | Flowering Jun–Sep. |
Habitat | Gravelly slopes and talus upward from timberline, or in bristle-cone pine forest. | Ridgetops, breaks, alpine shrub and tundra with Phlox, Geum rossii, other forbs, grasses, less commonly with shrubs and trees, often in barrens. |
Elevation | 3000–4000 m. (9800–13100 ft.) | 2000–3700 m. (6600–12100 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WY |
Discussion | Variety danaus is restricted to high elevations in the southern Sierra Nevada. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The moderately large, usually purplish flowers borne just above the mat of foliage set var. tegetarius apart and make it one of the showiest phases of the species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. tegetarius var. danaus | A. tegetarius, A. aculeatus, A. kentrophyta subsp. implexus, A. kentrophyta var. implexus, A. kentrophyta var. rotundus, A. montanus var. rotundus, A. montanus var. tegetarius, A. tegetarius var. implexus, A. tegetarius var. rotundus, Homalobus aculeatus, H. tegetarius, H. wolfii, Kentrophyta aculeata, K. minima, K. rotunda, K. tegetaria, K. wolfii, Tragacantha tegetaria |
Name authority | (Barneby) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 154. (1951) | (S. Watson) Dorn: Vasc. Pl. Wyoming, 297. (1988) |
Web links |