Astragalus lentiginosus var. salinus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. maricopae |
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harney milkvetch, sagebrush milk vetch, salty freckled milkvetch, salty loco milkvetch |
maricopa milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, 6–30(–45) cm. | Plants perennial (short-lived), 45–65 cm, herbage green or subglabrescent. |
Stems | ascending to erect, mostly unbranched. |
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Leaves | 4–10 cm; leaflets (9 or)11–19, blades broadly obovate, obovate-cuneate, obcordate, or oblong to oblanceolate, 5–20 mm, apex usually retuse or emarginate, surfaces glabrate to densely strigulose, hairs appressed or subappressed. |
(4–)6–16 cm; leaflets 17–25, blades ovate, broadly oval, oblong-elliptic, or obovate-cordate, (3–)5–22 mm, apex obtuse and apiculate or emarginate. |
Racemes | 10–25-flowered, floriferous from middle to distalmost nodes, short and compact in fruit; axis 1.5–4(–9) cm in fruit. |
loosely 13–30-flowered; axis elongating, (3–)5–20 cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 2–4.5(–5) cm. |
5–14 cm. |
Flowers | 9.5–11.5 mm; calyx 5–6.4 mm, tube 3.6–4.2(–4.6) mm, lobes 1.2–2.2 mm; corolla whitish, sometimes wings and keel with lavender tips. |
15–16.5 mm; calyx 7.2–8.6 mm, tube 5.6–6.4 mm, lobes 1.6–2.6 mm; corolla ochroleucous (immaculate). |
Legumes | green or mottled becoming stramineous, obliquely ovoid or subglobose, strongly inflated, 14–26(–30) × (6–)7.5–14 mm, papery-membranous, translucent, glabrous or puberulent; beak 3–9 mm, unilocular. |
green becoming stramineous, narrowly oblong- or linear-ellipsoid, not inflated, 20–30 × 3.7–5 mm, bilocular, somewhat fleshy becoming leathery or stiffly papery, glabrous; beak 3–5 mm, unilocular. |
Seeds | (7–)16–25. |
22–26. |
2n | = 22. |
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Astragalus lentiginosus var. salinus |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. maricopae |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Mar–May. |
Habitat | Saline flats and playas upward to mountain slopes in sagebrush, oak, and other montane communities. | Washes, roadsides with Larrea. |
Elevation | 700–2600 m. (2300–8500 ft.) | 300–700 m. (1000–2300 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WY; BC |
AZ |
Discussion | Variety salinus, widespread in the northern and eastern portions of the Great Basin, occupies a crucial position in the Astragalus lentiginosus complex, serving to link many superficially disparate lines of differentiation (R. C. Barneby 1964). On the one hand, one can trace a sequence passing through var. floribundus to var. ineptus, and then to vars. antonius, idriensis, and sierrae. On the other hand, another strand leads through vars. lentiginosus and platyphyllidius to vars. chartaceus, diphysus, and finally australis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety maricopae is common in the Cave Creek and Fish Creek areas in Maricopa County. In years with higher rainfall it is weedy in subdivisions where desert vegetation remains intact. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. salinus | |
Name authority | (Howell) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 86. (1945) | Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 140. (1945) |
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