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Photo is of parent taxon

freckled milkvetch, fumbling milk vetch, homely milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

Borrego Springs milkvetch

Habit Plants perennial, (1–)3–30 cm, herbage loosely strigulose or villosulous. Plants winter-annual, 10–30 cm, herbage densely pubescent).
Leaves

1.5–5.5 cm;

leaflets (9–)15–21, crowded, blades obovate or oblanceolate, (1–)2–10 mm, apex obtuse or retuse.

6–10(–16) cm;

leaflets (7–)15–19, blades broadly obovate-cuneate to elliptic-oblanceolate, 4–14(–21) mm, apex obtuse or emarginate to retuse.

Racemes

(4–)10–21-flowered, short and compact in fruit;

axis (0.3–)1–2.5 cm in fruit.

loosely 13–35(–48)-flowered;

axis (4.5–)6–18(–26) cm in fruit.

Peduncles

0.5–2 cm.

5–10 cm.

Flowers

(8.8–)9.8–12 mm;

calyx (4.8–)5.4–7.3 mm, tube (3.6–)3.9–4.9 mm, lobes (1–)1.2–2.4 mm;

corolla whitish or cream, sometimes with pink tips.

12–14.8 mm;

calyx 5.2–6.6 mm, tube 4–5.1 mm, lobes 1–2.3 mm;

corolla pink-purple.

Legumes

usually faintly mottled becoming stramineous, plumply ovoid- or ellipsoid-acuminate, strongly inflated, 10–18 × (5–)6–12 mm, thinly papery, strigulose or, sometimes, glabrous;

beak erect or incurved, deltoid, 3–5 mm, unilocular.

greenish stramineous, sometimes faintly mottled, lanceoloid to ovoid-acuminate, not or scarcely inflated, slightly turgid, 15–23 × 4.5–6 mm, ± bilocular, thin becoming papery, silky-strigulose-villosulous;

beak short, unilocular.

Seeds

(12–)14–19.

(10–)13–20.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. ineptus

Astragalus lentiginosus var. coulteri

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering late Feb–May.
Habitat Gravelly slopes, ridges, and talus, on coarse granitic sand or volcanic tuff, in bristlecone pine and alpine tundra communities. Sandy flats and semi­stabilized dunes, with Larrea.
Elevation 1800–3700 m. (5900–12100 ft.) 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (Sonora)
Discussion

Variety ineptus occurs along the eastern face of the Sierra Nevada from Alpine County southward to the Inconsolable Range, Inyo County, Sweetwater Mountains, Mono County, and Bonita Meadows, Tulare County.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Variety coulteri is found in the southern Colorado Desert, extending from eastern San Diego County in California, to the Yuma Desert in extreme southwestern Yuma County in Arizona, and adjacent Sonora, Mexico.

(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. 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. 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. 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
Synonyms A. ineptus A. coulteri, A. agninus, A. arthurschottii, A. lentiginosus var. borreganus
Name authority (A. Gray) M. E. Jones: Rev. N.-Amer. Astragalus, 124. (1923) (Bentham) M. E. Jones: Contr. W. Bot. 8: 4. (1898)
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