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Photo is of parent taxon

freckled milkvetch, White Mountains milk vetch

Photo is of parent taxon

freckled milk vetch, victorville freckled milkvetch

Habit Plants perennial, 5–10(–20) cm, herbage subappressed-strigulose. Plants usually short-lived perennial, sometimes annual, (4–)10–40 cm, herbage usually cinereous, sometimes green or silky-canescent.
Stems

diffuse and ascending;

ashy canescent or green.

Leaves

4–9 cm;

leaflets (13–)17–27, distant, blades oblanceolate, oblong-oval, or oblong-elliptic, 2–9 mm, apex obtuse or emarginate.

(2.5–)4–13 cm;

leaflets (7–)11–21(–25), blades obovate-cuneate to broadly oblanceolate or rhombic-elliptic, 4–15(–17) mm, apex usually obtuse or emarginate, rarely acute or subacute.

Racemes

6–10-flowered, short and compact in fruit;

axis 1–3 cm in fruit.

loosely (10–)12–25-flowered, lax and open in fruit;

axis (3–)4–15(–17) cm in fruit.

Peduncles

0.6–1.5 cm.

3–8(–9) cm.

Flowers

10.4–12 mm;

calyx 5.2–7.3 mm, tube 3.6–5 mm, lobes 1.5–2.6 mm;

corolla whitish.

11.1–15 mm;

calyx 4.7–6.5 mm, tube 3.7–5.2 mm, lobes 1–1.4(–1.5) mm, adaxial pair usually shortest;

corolla pink- or magenta-purple.

Legumes

mottled, ovoid-acuminate, bladdery-inflated, 11–20(–23) × 6–12 mm, papery, sparsely strigulose;

beak incurved, deltoid, 4–7 mm, unilocular.

pale green or mottled becoming stramineous, obliquely ovoid or subglobose, bladdery-inflated, (12–)15–27(–30) × 8–14(–15) mm, bilocular, stiffly papery, opaque, sparsely strigulose to densely and canescently strigose-villosulous;

beak (3–)4–9 mm, unilocular.

Seeds

13–15.

23–29.

2n

= 22.

= 22.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. semotus

Astragalus lentiginosus var. variabilis

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Jun.
Habitat Among sagebrush, with bristle­cone pine. Sandy flats, washes, desert playas, sometimes on dunes, usually with Larrea.
Elevation 2100–3500 m. (6900–11500 ft.) 100–1000(–2100) m. (300–3300(–6900) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety semotus, similar to var. ineptus, occurs in the Inyo and White mountains in Inyo and Mono counties, California, and Esmeralda County, Nevada.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Variety variabilis is common and locally abundant in the southern and southwestern Mojave Desert, replacing var. fremontii, which is usually found to the north and east. Vestiture varies from ashy white to greenish. To the north in southern Inyo County, California, it intergrades with var. fremontii to the point that differentiation of the varieties is subjective. At low elevations in the central Mojave Desert it grades into var. coachellae. It also occurs on the floor of the upper San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California, where it closely resembles var. nigricalycis except for the purple flowers. White-canescent plants of this variety also occur in Nye County in Nevada, west of Beatty. R. C. Barneby (1964) discussed intergradient populations more thoroughly.

(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. salinus, A. lentiginosus var. scorpionis, 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. 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. 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. vitreus, A. lentiginosus var. wahweapensis, A. lentiginosus var. wilsonii, A. lentiginosus var. yuccanus
Name authority Jepson: Fl. Calif. 2: 357. (1936) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 123, plate 4, figs. 1–8. (1945)
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