Astragalus lentiginosus var. ineptus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. mokiacensis |
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freckled milkvetch, fumbling milk vetch, homely milkvetch |
mokiak milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, (1–)3–30 cm, herbage loosely strigulose or villosulous. | Plants perennial, 20–60 cm, herbage green or subglabrescent. |
Leaves | 1.5–5.5 cm; leaflets (9–)15–21, crowded, blades obovate or oblanceolate, (1–)2–10 mm, apex obtuse or retuse. |
3–10(–13) cm; leaflets (7 or)9–17(–21), blades broadly obovate-obcordate, lanceolate, elliptic, or suborbiculate-obcordate, 5–13(–19) mm, apex emarginate or retuse to truncate, adaxial surface glabrous. |
Racemes | (4–)10–21-flowered, short and compact in fruit; axis (0.3–)1–2.5 cm in fruit. |
loosely 12–20-flowered; axis elongating, 3.5–18(–22) cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 0.5–2 cm. |
4–11(–14) 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. |
(10–)14–18(–19) mm; calyx 5–8(–9.2) mm, tube (3.5–)4–6.5 mm, lobes 1–2(–2.7) mm; corolla pink- to red-purple, usually with pale or white wing tips. |
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. |
dehiscent on plant, usually ascending-erect to ascending, rarely spreading, green becoming stramineous, usually ± straight to incurved, rarely decurved, oblong-ellipsoid, not or scarcely inflated, slightly turgid, 14–28(–32) × 4.5–6.5 mm, ± bilocular, somewhat fleshy becoming leathery or stiffly papery, glabrous or minutely pubescent; beak 3–4 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | (12–)14–19. |
(22–)25–36. |
2n | = 22. |
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Astragalus lentiginosus var. ineptus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. mokiacensis |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering Mar–Jun. |
Habitat | Gravelly slopes, ridges, and talus, on coarse granitic sand or volcanic tuff, in bristlecone pine and alpine tundra communities. | Limestone on outcrops and gravel, on basaltic or granitic gravel and/or outcrops, with Hymenoclea, bursage, Joshua tree, Larrea, and Ferocactus. |
Elevation | 1800–3700 m. (5900–12100 ft.) | 700–1800 m. (2300–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA |
AZ; NV; UT |
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.) |
The placement of var. mokiacensis has challenged generations of botanists. R. C. Barneby (1945) regarded var. mokiacensis as part of the lentiginosus complex but later (Barneby 1964) recognized it as a species within sect. Preussiani. In Washington County in Utah, var. mokiacensis has been consistently confused with var. palans. S. L. Welsh (2007) extensively discussed problems revolving around interpretation and distinction of var. mokiacensis. J. A. Alexander (2005) considered the taxon to be best recognized at the species level, as A. mokiacensis, the persistent fruit being otherwise unknown in A. lentiginosus. Alexander also presented a key to similar taxa and to minor variants within A. mokiacensis. As recognized here, the variety is found in Washington County in southwestern Utah, northwestern Mohave County in Arizona, and eastern Clark County in Nevada. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. ineptus | A. mokiacensis, A. lentiginosus var. ursinus |
Name authority | (A. Gray) M. E. Jones: Rev. N.-Amer. Astragalus, 124. (1923) | (A. Gray) M. E. Jones: Rev. N.-Amer. Astragalus, 126. (1923) |
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