Astragalus lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. multiracemosus |
|
---|---|---|
broad-leaf freckled milkvetch, broad-leaf milkvetch |
lamoille canyon milkvetch |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, (7–)10–30(–35) cm. | Plants perennial, 25–48 cm. |
Stems | prostrate, radiating from root-crown. |
|
Leaves | (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. |
6.5–12 cm; leaflets 15 or 17, blades lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 7–18 mm, apex truncate or round. |
Racemes | 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. |
12–14-flowered, floriferous from all but proximalmost nodes, short and compact in fruit; axis 4–4.5 cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 1–5 cm. |
1.3–2 cm. |
Flowers | (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. |
12–15 mm; calyx 7–7.5 mm, tube 4–4.5 mm, lobes 3–3.2 mm; corolla whitish or faintly lavender. |
Legumes | 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. |
purple-mottled becoming stramineous, broadly ovoid-acuminate, strongly inflated, 8–12 × 5–6 mm, opaque-papery, glabrous; beak 3–5 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | (21–)24–32(–38). |
not determined. |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. multiracemosus |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jul. | Flowering Jul–Sep. |
Habitat | Arid plains, hillsides, and valley floors, on basalt, with sagebrush. | Moist seeps. |
Elevation | 600–1900(–2100) m. (2000–6200(–6900) ft.) | 2500–2600 m. (8200–8500 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; NV; OR; UT; WY |
NV |
Discussion | 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.) |
Variety multiracemosus is known only from Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains in Elko County. The proliferous habit of producing numerous racemes along prostrate stems is shared with disjunct vars. floribundus, ineptus, piscinensis, and sesquimetralis. The nearest relationship is most likely with var. salinus, which sometimes produces racemes from middle as well as distal nodes, producing new flowers distally while proximal racemes are in fruit. Flower size is similar to that of var. salinus; fruit is similar to that of var. scorpionis. (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 | (Rydberg) M. Peck: Man. Pl. Oregon, 449. (1941) — (as platyphyllidium) | S. L. Welsh & N. D. Atwood in S. L. Welsh: N. Amer. Sp. Astragalus, 294, fig. 285c. (2007) |
Web links |