Astragalus kentrophyta var. kentrophyta |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. coloradoensis |
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spiny milkvetch |
Canyonlands kentrophyta, Colorado spiny milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants decumbent, loosely mat-forming. | Plants loosely mat- or clump-forming, low, to 12 cm. |
Stems | and herbage strigulose, hairs basifixed or obscurely malpighian. |
and herbage strigulose, hairs malpighian. |
Leaves | (0.7–)1–2.5 cm; stipules dimorphic, those at proximal nodes connate into short, bidentate sheath, those at distal nodes longer, connate at base only, lanceolate or lanceolate-acuminate, often without spines, 2–7 mm; leaflets 5 or 7, blades 7–12 mm, surfaces pubescent abaxially, glabrous or glabrescent adaxially. |
0.9–2.4 cm; stipules 1–12 mm; leaflets (3 or)5(or 7), blades 4–15 mm, surfaces pubescent. |
Peduncles | subobsolete to 0.2 cm. |
0.2–0.6 cm. |
Flowers | 4–5.5 mm; calyx 3.4–4 mm, tube 1.9–2.4 mm, lobes subulate to setaceous, 1.4–2 mm; corolla whitish. |
7.3–10 mm; calyx 6–8.3 mm, tube 2.4–3.3 mm, lobes subulate, spinulose, 3.4–5 mm; corolla pink-purple. |
Legumes | subsymmetrically ovoid-lenticular, (3.5–)4–7 × 2.4–3.8 mm. |
subsymmetrically ellipsoid, lanceoloid- or oblong-ellipsoid, (5–)7–10 × 2.8–4 mm. |
Seeds | 2 or 3(or 4). |
4–8. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. kentrophyta |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. coloradoensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Bluffs, dunes, gullied ridges in badlands. | Sandy wash bottoms, sandy pockets on sandstone rimrock, in mixed desert shrub communities. |
Elevation | 1200–1600 m. (3900–5200 ft.) | 900–1700 m. (3000–5600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; MT; ND; NE; SD; WY; AB; SK |
AZ; UT |
Discussion | Variety kentrophyta is a taxon of the High Plains from southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan through eastern Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, the western Dakotas, and western Nebraska. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety coloradoensis is known from north-central Arizona and south-central Utah. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | unknown | M. E. Jones: Contr. W. Bot. 10: 63. (1902) |
Web links |