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Photo is of parent taxon

spiny leaf milk vetch, tall kentrophyta, tall spiny milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

Douglas kentrophyta, Douglas' spiny milkvetch, spiny millk-vetch, thistle milk-vetch

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. Plants prostrate, densely mat-forming, becoming suffruticose.
Stems

and herbage strigulose, hairs malpighian.

and herbage strigulose, hairs basifixed.

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.

1–1.7 cm;

stipules dimorphic, 2–5 mm;

leaflets 5(or 7), blades 5–12 mm, surfaces pubescent.

Peduncles

0.1–0.6 cm.

subobsolete.

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.

5.8 mm;

calyx 4.7–5.2 mm, tube 2.2–2.4 mm, lobes subulate, spinulose, 2.3–3 mm;

corolla whitish.

Legumes

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

lanceoloid, 5–5.5 × 2 mm.

Seeds

2–4.

2.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Astragalus kentrophyta var. elatus

Astragalus kentrophyta var. douglasii

Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep. Flowering Jun.
Habitat Mixed desert and salt desert shrub, juniper-pinyon, ponderosa pine, bristlecone pine, and pine-spruce communities, floodplains. Sandy substrates.
Elevation 1500–2900(–3200) m. (4900–9500(–10500) ft.) 150–400 m. (500–1300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; UT; WY
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
OR; WA
[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.)

Variety douglasii is known from only a few, vague historical records, probably taken near the present city of Walla Walla near the Great Bend of the Columbia River, and appears to be extinct.

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

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Ervoidei > Astragalus kentrophyta 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
A. kentrophyta var. coloradoensis, A. kentrophyta var. danaus, 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. impensus
Name authority S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 77. (1871) Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13: 364. (1964)
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