Astragalus lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. vitreus |
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soda springs milkvetch, Sodaville milk vetch |
freckled milkvetch, glass freckled milkvetch |
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Habit | Plants perennial, to 70–80 cm. | Plants perennial, 15–40 cm. |
Stems | prostrate. |
glabrous or glabrate. |
Leaves | 2–5 cm; leaflets 9–15(or 17), blades oblanceolate, 6–18 mm, terminal leaflet 7–15 mm, apex obtuse or subacute. |
4.5–10 cm; leaflets (7–)13–19, blades obovate-cuneate or oblong-obovate, (5–)7–17(–21) mm, apex obtuse or truncate-emarginate. |
Racemes | shortly and loosely 6–12-flowered, short and compact in fruit; axis 1–2 cm in fruit. |
loosely (10–)15–27-flowered, lax and open in fruit; axis 4–8.5 cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 1.5–4 cm. |
4–9.5 cm. |
Flowers | 14–14.5 mm; calyx 7–8 mm, tube 4.8–5.5 mm, lobes 2.2–2.5 mm; corolla purple. |
13.2–17 mm; calyx 6.5–8 mm, tube 4.6–5.7 mm, lobes (1.5–)1.7–2.3 mm; corolla pink-purple or lavender with white wing tips. |
Legumes | mottled, ovoid or broadly lanceoloid, moderately inflated, 16–26 × 9–12 mm, semibilocular, stiffly papery, strigulose; beak incurved, 4–8 mm, unilocular. |
pale green and unmottled turning pallid, usually broadly ovoid, rarely lunately lanceoloid-acuminate, usually strongly inflated, rarely less so, 15–25 × (7–)9–15 mm, papery-membranous, subtranslucent, lustrous, glabrous; beak triangular, short, unilocular. |
Seeds | 12–20. |
21–31. |
2n | = 22. |
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Astragalus lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis |
Astragalus lentiginosus var. vitreus |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Saline, seasonally moist clay flats, around seeps and springs. | Gullied badlands and desert flats, on sand or clay derived from sandstone or limestone, on volcanic gravel. |
Elevation | 900–1400 m. (3000–4600 ft.) | 800–1500(–2000) m. (2600–4900(–6600) ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; NV |
AZ; UT |
Discussion | The branches of var. sesquimetralis radiate, forming large, round plants that hug the ground. This habit, coupled with a long season of available water, is evidently conducive to long-continuing flowering and fruiting but is not necessarily an indication of a near relationship to other taxa that are similar (see discussion under 285c. var. multiracemosus). The variety is restricted to southern Mineral County, Nevada, and northern Inyo County, California. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety vitreus is found in the valleys of the upper Virgin River and Kanab Creek, southward to the northern slope of the Kaibab Plateau, and Toroweap and House Rock valleys in eastern Washington and western Kane counties in Utah, and northern Mohave and northwestern Coconino counties in Arizona. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cystium sesquimetrale | |
Name authority | (Rydberg) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 116. (1945) | Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 119, plate 3, figs. 30–33. (1945) |
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