Flora of North America species comparison

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Astragalus kentrophyta var. elatus
Photo is of parent taxon

spiny leaf milk vetch, tall kentrophyta, tall spiny milkvetch
Habit Plants usually erect or assurgent, rarely trailing, suffruticose and often bushy-branched basally, forming low, prickly bushes, 10–45(–65) cm, sometimes mat-forming.
Stems

and herbage strigulose, hairs malpighian.
Leaves

(0.8–)1–2.6 cm;

stipules dimorphic, those at proximal nodes connate with bidentate tip, those at distal nodes connate near base with spiny tips, 1–12 mm;

leaflets (3 or)5 or 7, blades (2–)5–15(–17) mm, surfaces usually pubescent, sometimes glabrous adaxially.
Peduncles

0.1–0.6 cm.
Flowers

4.8–6.2 mm;

calyx 3.4–4.4 mm, tube 1.8–2.3 mm, lobes subulate, spinulose, 1.5–2.4 mm;

corolla usually whitish or faintly veined or tinged purple, fading ochroleucous, rarely pink-purple.
Legumes

narrowly ovoid-acuminate, (3.5–)4–7 × 1.5–2 mm.
Seeds

2–4.
2n

= 24.

Astragalus kentrophyta var. elatus
Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep.
Habitat Mixed desert and salt desert shrub, juniper-pinyon, ponderosa pine, bristlecone pine, and pine-spruce communities, floodplains.
Elevation 1500–2900(–3200) m. (4900–9500(–10500) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; UT; WY
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Both erect and prostrate phases are known, which at maturity form ascending or sprawling tangles of untidy, branched stems with prickly leaves, hence an alternative common name of barb-wire kentrophyta. The prostrate phases, typically from upper-middle elevations, simulate var. tegetarius, which has basifixed hairs.

(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. danaus, A. kentrophyta var. douglasii, A. kentrophyta var. jessiae, A. kentrophyta var. kentrophyta, A. kentrophyta var. neomexicanus, A. kentrophyta var. tegetarius, A. kentrophyta var. ungulatus
Synonyms A. impensus
Name authority S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 77. (1871)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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