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Photo is of parent taxon

Coachella milkvetch, Coachella Valley milk vetch, Palm Springs freckled milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

Fremont's milk vetch, Frémont's freckled milkvetch

Habit Plants winter-annual or perennial (short-lived, often flowering first year), clump-forming, (10–)15–30(–55) cm, herbage silvery-canescent, hairs to 0.7–1.2 mm. Plants annual, biennial, or perennial (short-lived), (4–)8–35(–40) cm.
Stems

erect and ascending.

Leaves

5–11.5 cm;

leaflets (7–)11–17(–21), blades broadly oval to obovate-cuneate or oblong-elliptic, 5–15(–17) mm, apex emarginate, or obtuse and apiculate.

(3–)4–9(–12) cm;

leaflets (9 or)11–19, blades ovate- or obovate-cuneate, broadly oblanceolate, or rhombic-elliptic, 5–19 mm, apex usually obtuse or emarginate, rarely subacute.

Racemes

loosely 11–25-flowered, lax and open in fruit;

axis (3–)4–10 cm in fruit.

loosely (8–)10–30-flowered, lax and open in fruit;

axis (2.5–)4–11(–16) cm in fruit.

Peduncles

3.5–8 cm.

2.5–8.5(–10) cm.

Flowers

12.7–14.5 mm;

calyx 6.6–7.8 mm, tube 4.5–5.3 mm, lobes 1.7–2.9 mm;

corolla pink-purple.

9.1–12(–12.4) mm;

calyx (3.4–)3.8–6(–7.9) mm, tube (2.8–)3–4.5 mm, lobes (0.6–)0.9–2(–3.5) mm;

corolla usually bright purple, rarely pink-lilac to pure white.

Legumes

usually mottled, broadly and obliquely ovoid-acuminate, greatly inflated, 16–21 × 9–14 mm, bilocular, stiffly papery, canescent-strigulose;

beak 3.5–6 mm, unilocular.

pale green, often purple-freckled or purple-mottled, usually broadly and plumply ovoid-acuminate, rarely quite narrowly so, nearly always bladdery-inflated, 14–27(–36) × (5–)8–18 mm, ± bilocular, papery-membranous, subtranslucent, glabrous or sparsely strigulose-villosulous;

beak (2–)3–7(–10) mm, unilocular.

Seeds

24–30.

(17–)19–31.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae

Astragalus lentiginosus var. fremontii

Phenology Flowering Feb–May. Flowering late Mar–Jul (Sep–Oct).
Habitat Sandy flats, washes, outwash fans, on dunes, in Larrea belt. Braided stream gravel in riparian communities, gravelly slopes in creosote bush, Joshua tree, juniper, pinyon-juniper, and Jeffrey pine communities.
Elevation -10–400 m. (-0–1300 ft.) 700–2500(–2800) m. (2300–8200(–9200) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety coachellae occurs at low elevations in and around the Coachella Valley in Riverside County.

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

Variety fremontii is common from southeastern California across southern Nevada to southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona and may be very abundant when adequate moisture is available at an appropriate time. To the south and west, it grades into the larger-flowered var. variabilis; to the north in western Nevada, it grades into var. kennedyi.

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

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Diphysi > Astragalus lentiginosus Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Diphysi > Astragalus lentiginosus
Sibling taxa
A. lentiginosus var. albifolius, A. lentiginosus var. ambiguus, A. lentiginosus var. antonius, A. lentiginosus var. australis, A. lentiginosus var. chartaceus, A. lentiginosus var. coulteri, A. lentiginosus var. diphysus, A. lentiginosus var. floribundus, A. lentiginosus var. fremontii, A. lentiginosus var. higginsii, A. lentiginosus var. idriensis, A. lentiginosus var. ineptus, A. lentiginosus var. kennedyi, A. lentiginosus var. kernensis, A. lentiginosus var. latus, A. lentiginosus var. lentiginosus, A. lentiginosus var. macrolobus, A. lentiginosus var. maricopae, A. lentiginosus var. micans, A. lentiginosus var. mokiacensis, A. lentiginosus var. multiracemosus, A. lentiginosus var. negundo, A. lentiginosus var. nigricalycis, A. lentiginosus var. oropedii, A. lentiginosus var. palans, A. lentiginosus var. piscinensis, A. lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius, A. lentiginosus var. pohlii, A. lentiginosus var. salinus, A. lentiginosus var. scorpionis, A. lentiginosus var. semotus, A. lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis, A. lentiginosus var. sierrae, A. lentiginosus var. stramineus, A. lentiginosus var. toyabensis, A. lentiginosus var. trumbullensis, A. lentiginosus var. variabilis, A. lentiginosus var. vitreus, A. lentiginosus var. wahweapensis, A. lentiginosus var. wilsonii, A. lentiginosus var. yuccanus
A. lentiginosus var. albifolius, A. lentiginosus var. ambiguus, A. lentiginosus var. antonius, A. lentiginosus var. australis, A. lentiginosus var. chartaceus, A. lentiginosus var. coachellae, A. lentiginosus var. coulteri, A. lentiginosus var. diphysus, A. lentiginosus var. floribundus, A. lentiginosus var. higginsii, A. lentiginosus var. idriensis, A. lentiginosus var. ineptus, A. lentiginosus var. kennedyi, A. lentiginosus var. kernensis, A. lentiginosus var. latus, A. lentiginosus var. lentiginosus, A. lentiginosus var. macrolobus, A. lentiginosus var. maricopae, A. lentiginosus var. micans, A. lentiginosus var. mokiacensis, A. lentiginosus var. multiracemosus, A. lentiginosus var. negundo, A. lentiginosus var. nigricalycis, A. lentiginosus var. oropedii, A. lentiginosus var. palans, A. lentiginosus var. piscinensis, A. lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius, A. lentiginosus var. pohlii, A. lentiginosus var. salinus, A. lentiginosus var. scorpionis, A. lentiginosus var. semotus, A. lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis, A. lentiginosus var. sierrae, A. lentiginosus var. stramineus, A. lentiginosus var. toyabensis, A. lentiginosus var. trumbullensis, A. lentiginosus var. variabilis, A. lentiginosus var. vitreus, A. lentiginosus var. wahweapensis, A. lentiginosus var. wilsonii, A. lentiginosus var. yuccanus
Synonyms A. fremontii, A. fremontii subsp. eremicus
Name authority Barneby in F. Shreve and I. L. Wiggins: Veg. Fl. Sonoran Desert, 695. (1964) (A. Gray) S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 66. (1871)
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