Astragalus lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. palans |
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broad-leaf freckled milkvetch, broad-leaf milkvetch |
freckled milkvetch, straggling milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, (7–)10–30(–35) cm. | Plants perennial (sometimes short-lived), (10–)15–35(–40) cm, herbage green or subglabrescent. |
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. |
(3.5–)5–11cm; leaflets 13–21(or 23), blades broadly obovate-cuneate, oblong-elliptic, oblong-oblanceolate, or suborbiculate-obcordate, (3–)5–17(–23) mm, apex obtuse, emarginate, or subacute, adaxial surface glabrous. |
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. |
loosely (6–)10–28-flowered; axis elongating or not, (1–)2–12(–14.5) cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 1–5 cm. |
(3.5–)5–11 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. |
13.5–17.5(–18.3) mm; calyx 6.3–9.4 mm, tube 4.7–6.8 mm, lobes (0.9–)1.1–3(–4) mm; corolla pink-purple. |
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. |
spreading, declined, or spreading-ascending, green becoming stramineous then blackish, ± straight to uniformly or hamately incurved, obliquely linear-lanceoloid to narrowly ovoid-acuminate, not or scarcely inflated, dehiscent on ground, (12–)15–27 × 4–8.5 mm, ± bilocular, somewhat fleshy becoming leathery or stiffly papery, glabrous or strigulose; beak 5–8 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | (21–)24–32(–38). |
20–42. |
2n | = 22. |
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Astragalus lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. palans |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jul. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Arid plains, hillsides, and valley floors, on basalt, with sagebrush. | Salt-desert shrub, blackbrush, juniper, pinyon-juniper, and mixed desert shrub communities. |
Elevation | 600–1900(–2100) m. (2000–6200(–6900) ft.) | 1100–1900 m. (3600–6200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; NV; OR; UT; WY |
AZ; CO; UT |
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 palans is known from northern Arizona, excluding the Coconino Plateau and upper Verde Valley, and from southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. There is no substantial difference between material included within the concept of var. palans and Astragalus bryantii, which R. C. Barneby (1964) included within sect. Leptocarpi. S. L. Welsh (2007) considered it significant that fallen fruits, characteristic of var. palans, are included with the type collection of A. bryantii. (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 | A. palans, A. bryantii |
Name authority | (Rydberg) M. Peck: Man. Pl. Oregon, 449. (1941) — (as platyphyllidium) | (M. E. Jones) M. E. Jones: Contr. W. Bot. 8: 4. (1898) |
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