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Photo is of parent taxon

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

Photo is of parent taxon

freckled milkvetch, straw 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 (short-lived), 12–40(–65) cm, herbage cinereous or green.
Stems

erect and ascending.

ashy canescent or green.

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(–13) cm;

leaflets (9 or)11–15, blades broadly oblanceolate or obovate-cuneate, (3–)5–18 mm, apex openly notched.

Racemes

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

axis (3–)4–10 cm in fruit.

loosely or remotely 15–25(–30)-flowered, lax and open in fruit;

axis 5–18 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

3.5–8 cm.

3.5–9 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.

11–12 mm;

calyx 5–6.6 mm, tube 3.8–4.5 mm, lobes 1.2–2.1 mm;

corolla pale 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.

greenish, usually mottled, becoming stramineous, obliquely ovoid-acuminate, bladdery-inflated, (10–)17–26 × 10–16 mm, bilocular, somewhat stiffly papery, opaque, strigulose;

beak (2–)3–7 mm, unilocular.

Seeds

24–30.

20–26.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae

Astragalus lentiginosus var. stramineus

Phenology Flowering Feb–May. Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Sandy flats, washes, outwash fans, on dunes, in Larrea belt. Mixed warm-desert shrub communities.
Elevation -10–400 m. (-0–1300 ft.) 900–1000 m. (3000–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; 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 stramineus is the only member of the species with moderate-sized, pale purple flowers known to occur in Washington County in Utah, and adjacent Arizona and Nevada; it is similar to the slightly smaller-flowered var. fremontii and to var. ambiguus.

(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. 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. 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 stramineum
Name authority Barneby in F. Shreve and I. L. Wiggins: Veg. Fl. Sonoran Desert, 695. (1964) (Rydberg) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 122. (1945)
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