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Photo is of parent taxon

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

Photo is of parent taxon

west Humboldt 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 perennial (rarely flowering first year), 6–30 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.

4–11 cm;

leaflets (9–)13–19, blades obovate or oblanceolate, 4–20 mm, apex mostly retuse, surfaces strigulose-villosulous, some hairs spreading or sinuous.

Racemes

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

axis (3–)4–10 cm in fruit.

(8–)12–30-flowered, short and compact in fruit;

axis (2–)3–7(–9) cm in fruit.

Peduncles

3.5–8 cm.

2.5–7 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.

9.3–11.3 mm;

calyx (4.5–)5–7.1 mm, tube 3–3.8 mm, lobes (1.5–)2–3.3 mm;

corolla usually whitish, sometimes purple or pink-purple.

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.

green, faintly mottled, or stramineous, obliquely ovoid or subglobose, strongly inflated, 15–25 × (6–)8–14 mm, thinly papery, translucent, glabrous or strigulose;

beak 3–7 mm, unilocular.

Seeds

24–30.

18–26.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae

Astragalus lentiginosus var. macrolobus

Phenology Flowering Feb–May. Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat Sandy flats, washes, outwash fans, on dunes, in Larrea belt. On sand, with sagebrush.
Elevation -10–400 m. (-0–1300 ft.) 1100–1800 m. (3600–5900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NV
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.)

Specimens of var. macrolobus, apparently flowering the first year, have been misidentified as Astragalus geyeri, which is clearly annual and has straight, appressed (not villosulous) indumentum. Variety macrolobus occurs in northern Nevada. To the north and east, it grades into var. salinus and to the west into var. floribundus.

(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. 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. 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 Cystium macrolobum
Name authority Barneby in F. Shreve and I. L. Wiggins: Veg. Fl. Sonoran Desert, 695. (1964) (Rydberg) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 89. (1945)
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