Astragalus lentiginosus var. floribundus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. scorpionis |
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Carson city milkvetch, floriferous freckled milkvetch, floriferous milk vetch, freckled milkvetch |
scorpion milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, 20–50 cm. | Plants perennial, 5–30 cm. |
Stems | prostrate to weakly ascending, branched proximally. |
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Leaves | 3–8(–11) cm; leaflets 11–15(–19), blades obovate or oblanceolate, 5–15 mm, apex retuse, surfaces glabrate to densely strigulose, hairs appressed or subappressed. |
3–10 cm; leaflets 13–19, blades oval, obovate, or elliptic-oblanceolate, 5–15 mm, apex subacute, truncate, or retuse. |
Racemes | (11–)15–30(–37)-flowered, short and dense, cylindric or globose in fruit; axis 1–4(–7) cm in fruit. |
8–18-flowered, short and compact in fruit; axis 1.5–4(–5) cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 1–4(–7) cm. |
1.5–6(–8) cm. |
Flowers | 8.8–11 mm; calyx 4–6.5 mm, tube 3–4 mm, lobes 0.6–1.4(–2) mm; corolla whitish, sometimes wings and keel with lavender tips. |
8.5–12.2 mm; calyx 4.2–7(–8.4) mm, tube 2.7–4.2(–5.3) mm, lobes 1.5–3.2 mm; corolla whitish or faintly lavender. |
Legumes | faintly mottled becoming stramineous, obliquely ovoid or subglobose, strongly inflated, (8–)12–21 × (6–)7–12 mm, thinly papery, translucent, glabrous or strigulose; beak 3–7 mm, unilocular. |
green, usually mottled, becoming stramineous, broadly ovoid-acuminate, usually strongly inflated, 8–20(–25) × 4.5–12(–15) mm, stiffly papery, ± opaque, glabrous; beak 3–10 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | 15–21(–25). |
(7–)16–25. |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. floribundus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. scorpionis |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Sagebrush communities, on sandy, granitic, or basaltic substrates. | Rocky crests, meadows, brushy hillsides, limber pine woodlands, mostly on limestone or limey clay soils, with sagebrush, to timberline. |
Elevation | 1100–1600(–2100) m. (3600–5200(–6900) ft.) | 2100–3400 m. (6900–11200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR |
NV; UT |
Discussion | Variety floribundus is the only member of Astragalus lentiginosus in the Lake Tahoe area; it occurs along the eastern flanks of the Sierra Nevada, passing into var. ineptus in Mono County, and extends northward into southeastern Oregon, where it grades into var. salinus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety scorpionis resembles forms of var. lentiginosus that have thin-walled, well-inflated fruits but is disjunct from that northern, lower elevation variety. Variety scorpionis is seemingly the only member of its species present in several Nevada ranges (Deep Creek, Diamond, Grant, Ruby, and White Pine). It is contiguous to two usually purple-flowered montane varieties, vars. latus and toyabensis (D. Isely 1998). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 6: 524. (1865) | M. E. Jones: Rev. N.-Amer. Astragalus, 124. (1923) |
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