The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links
Photo is of parent taxon

harney milkvetch, sagebrush milk vetch, salty freckled milkvetch, salty loco milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

maricopa milkvetch

Habit Plants perennial, 6–30(–45) cm. Plants perennial (short-lived), 45–65 cm, herbage green or subglabrescent.
Stems

ascending to erect, mostly unbranched.

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.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. salinus

Astragalus lentiginosus var. maricopae

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
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WY; BC
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ
[BONAP county map]
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 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. 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. 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. coulteri, 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. 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. salinus
Name authority (Howell) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 86. (1945) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 140. (1945)
Web links