Astragalus kentrophyta var. tegetarius |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. danaus |
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mat milk vetch, mountain kentrophyta |
Mount Dana kentrophyta, spiny milkvetch, Sweetwater Mountains. milk vetch |
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Habit | Plants prostrate, cushion-forming, 5–40(–50) cm wide. | Plants prostrate, mat- or cushion-forming, to 15 cm wide. |
Stems | and herbage densely to sparsely strigulose, villosulous, or villous, hairs basifixed. |
and herbage strigulose, hairs basifixed. |
Leaves | (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. |
0.4–1.5(–2) cm; stipules somewhat dimorphic, 2–7 mm; leaflets 3(–7), blades 3–7 mm. |
Peduncles | 0–1.5(–3) cm. |
0.2–0.6 cm. |
Flowers | (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. |
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 | ellipsoid or oblong-ellipsoid, (3–)4–8(–9) × (0.6–)2–2.5 mm. |
subsymmetrically lenticular, 3.5–5 × 2–2.5 mm. |
Seeds | (3–)5–8. |
5–8. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. tegetarius |
Astragalus kentrophyta var. danaus |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | Flowering Jul–Sep. |
Habitat | Ridgetops, breaks, alpine shrub and tundra with Phlox, Geum rossii, other forbs, grasses, less commonly with shrubs and trees, often in barrens. | Gravelly slopes and talus upward from timberline, or in bristle-cone pine forest. |
Elevation | 2000–3700 m. (6600–12100 ft.) | 3000–4000 m. (9800–13100 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WY |
CA |
Discussion | 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.) |
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. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | 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 | A. tegetarius var. danaus |
Name authority | (S. Watson) Dorn: Vasc. Pl. Wyoming, 297. (1988) | (Barneby) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 154. (1951) |
Web links |