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Photo is of parent taxon

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

Photo is of parent taxon
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, 19–32 cm.
Stems

erect and ascending.

diffuse and incurved-ascending, often red- or purple-tinged.

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.

(2.5–)4–11 cm;

leaflets (7–)13–19, blades elliptic-oblanceolate, broadly oblong-oblanceolate, or obovate, (2–)5–17 mm, apex obtuse or emarginate.

Racemes

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

axis (3–)4–10 cm in fruit.

5–11-flowered, flowering from middle and distally, short and compact in fruit;

axis 0.5–5 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

3.5–8 cm.

2.2–5 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.

12.5–14.5 mm;

calyx 7.5–10.2 mm, tube 5.2–5.8 mm, lobes 1.8–4.4 mm;

corolla bright pink-purple with pale, striate eye.

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.

purplish, often red-mottled, becoming stramineous, ellipsoid to lanceoloid-ovoid or ellipsoid-acuminate, moderately inflated, 23–34 × 6–15 mm, bilocular, stiffly papery or almost leathery, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent;

beak well-defined, triangular or deltoid, 7–12 mm, unilocular.

Seeds

24–30.

40.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae

Astragalus lentiginosus var. negundo

Phenology Flowering Feb–May. Flowering late Apr–Jun.
Habitat Sandy flats, washes, outwash fans, on dunes, in Larrea belt. Salt and sand desert shrub communities with shadscale, greasewood, sagebrush, and horsebrush, in pinyon-juniper communities.
Elevation -10–400 m. (-0–1300 ft.) 1400–1700(–2300) m. (4600–5600(–7500) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
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 negundo, which is known from Box Elder, Millard, and Tooele counties, fills a portion of the gap in distribution between var. platyphyllidius, with which it shares relatively thick-textured fruits, and var. chartaceus, with which it is transitional to the south. From either taxon, the elongated fruit is evidently diagnostic, apparent only as fruits approach maturity. The lower flower number is characteristic of var. negundo and is more or less diagnostic.

(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. macrolobus, A. lentiginosus var. maricopae, A. lentiginosus var. micans, A. lentiginosus var. mokiacensis, A. lentiginosus var. multiracemosus, 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
Name authority Barneby in F. Shreve and I. L. Wiggins: Veg. Fl. Sonoran Desert, 695. (1964) S. L. Welsh & N. D. Atwood in S. L. Welsh: N. Amer. Sp. Astragalus, 302, fig. 285u. (2007)
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