Astragalus lentiginosus var. higginsii |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius |
|
---|---|---|
Higgins' freckled milkvetch, Higgins' milkvetch |
broad-leaf freckled milkvetch, broad-leaf milkvetch |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, 15–25 cm. | Plants perennial, (7–)10–30(–35) cm. |
Leaves | 3–11 cm; leaflets 15–21, blades lanceolate-elliptic to obovate, 8–18 mm, apex emarginate. |
(4–)5–11 cm; leaflets (7–)11–17(or 19), blades usually broadly obovate-cuneate, elliptic, or suborbiculate, rarely rhombic-elliptic, (4–)7–20 mm, apex usually obtuse, retuse, truncate, or apiculate, rarely acute. |
Racemes | 7–17-flowered, short and compact in fruit; axis 1–4 cm in fruit. |
shortly and loosely (5–)7–15-flowered, flowering from near or proximal to middle nodes, short and compact in fruit; axis little elongating, 1–3.5 cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 3–6.5 cm. |
1–5 cm. |
Flowers | 17–20 mm; calyx 7–10.4 mm, tube 6–6.8 mm, lobes 3–3.5 mm; corolla pale violet. |
(12.6–)14–21.4 mm; calyx (8–)8.5–12.5 mm, tube (5–)5.5–8(–9) mm, lobes 2.4–5 mm; corolla usually whitish, rarely purple. |
Legumes | green, sometimes mottled, becoming stramineous, ovoid, greatly inflated, 19–27 × 11–16(–19) mm, semibilocular, stiffly papery, thinly translucent, glabrous. |
variable in length, outline, and curvature, pale green or purple-speckled becoming stramineous or brownish, plumply ovoid or narrowly lanceoloid-ellipsoid, (13–)15–40(–48) × 7–14 mm, ± bilocular, strongly or slightly inflated, ± fleshy becoming leathery or stiffly papery, usually glabrous, sometimes minutely strigulose; beak deltoid or lanceolate-acuminate, 5–15 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | 30–35. |
(21–)24–32(–38). |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. higginsii |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–early Jun. | Flowering May–Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy to loamy soils, with Ptelea-Rhus-Prosopis, and yucca, oak, mesquite communities. | Arid plains, hillsides, and valley floors, on basalt, with sagebrush. |
Elevation | 800–1100 m. (2600–3600 ft.) | 600–1900(–2100) m. (2000–6200(–6900) ft.) |
Distribution |
NM; TX |
CA; CO; ID; NV; OR; UT; WY |
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 platyphyllidius is dispersed widely from eastern Oregon and northeastern California, across southern Idaho into western Wyoming, northeastern Nevada, and barely into northern Utah and northwestern Colorado. It is apparently common only locally, distinguished by its typically pale flowers and thick-textured fruits (approximate length of two times width or less). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cystium platyphyllidium, A. lentiginosus var. cornutus, A. merrillii, C. cornutum, C. merrillii | |
Name authority | S. L. Welsh & K. H. Thorne: Brittonia 33: 296, fig. 2. (1981) | (Rydberg) M. Peck: Man. Pl. Oregon, 449. (1941) — (as platyphyllidium) |
Web links |