Astragalus lentiginosus var. higginsii |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. chartaceus |
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Higgins' freckled milkvetch, Higgins' milkvetch |
broadleaf milkvetch, cobweb milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, 15–25 cm. | Plants perennial, 10–35 cm. |
Stems | diffuse and incurved-ascending, often red-tinged. |
|
Leaves | 3–11 cm; leaflets 15–21, blades lanceolate-elliptic to obovate, 8–18 mm, apex emarginate. |
(2.5–)4–11 cm; leaflets (9 or)11–23, blades elliptic-oblanceolate, broadly oblong-oblanceolate, or obovate, (3–)5–17(–20) mm, apex obtuse or emarginate. |
Racemes | 7–17-flowered, short and compact in fruit; axis 1–4 cm in fruit. |
(5–)10–20-flowered, flowering from middle and distally, short and compact in fruit; axis (0.5–)1.5–4(–5.5) cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 3–6.5 cm. |
(1–)2.5–6(–7.5) cm. |
Flowers | 17–20 mm; calyx 7–10.4 mm, tube 6–6.8 mm, lobes 3–3.5 mm; corolla pale violet. |
(12.5–)15–18.2 mm; calyx (6.2–)7.5–10.5 mm, tube (4.6–)5.2–6.7 mm, lobes 1.4–3.8 mm; corolla bright pink-purple with pale, striate eye. |
Legumes | green, sometimes mottled, becoming stramineous, ovoid, greatly inflated, 19–27 × 11–16(–19) mm, semibilocular, stiffly papery, thinly translucent, glabrous. |
green, often red-mottled, becoming stramineous, usually strongly incurved, ovoid, lanceoloid-ovoid, or ovoid-acuminate, moderately inflated, 15–30(–40) × (7–)9–15 mm, bilocular, stiffly papery or almost leathery, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent; beak well-defined, triangular or deltoid, 6–15 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | 30–35. |
24–34(–38). |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. higginsii |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. chartaceus |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–early Jun. | Flowering May–Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy to loamy soils, with Ptelea-Rhus-Prosopis, and yucca, oak, mesquite communities. | Sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and mixed desert shrub communities, on alluvial silt, igneous gravel. |
Elevation | 800–1100 m. (2600–3600 ft.) | 1400–2200 m. (4600–7200 ft.) |
Distribution |
NM; TX |
NV; UT |
Discussion | Variety higginsii, from Chaves County in New Mexico, and Hudspeth, Hutchinson, and Potter counties in Texas, almost certainly is a derivative of var. diphysus, differing only in its pale flowers. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety chartaceus is widespread from central to western Utah into northeastern and central Nevada, there intergrading with vars. fremontii, kennedyi, and toyabensis. S. L. Welsh (2007) discussed the problems of including this variety in an expanded var. diphysus and its complex relationships to other varieties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. araneosus, A. lentiginosus var. araneosus | |
Name authority | S. L. Welsh & K. H. Thorne: Brittonia 33: 296, fig. 2. (1981) | M. E. Jones: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 673. (1895) |
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