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

freckled milk vetch, victorville freckled milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

freckled milkvetch, straw milkvetch

Habit Plants usually short-lived perennial, sometimes annual, (4–)10–40 cm, herbage usually cinereous, sometimes green or silky-canescent. Plants perennial (short-lived), 12–40(–65) cm, herbage cinereous or green.
Stems

diffuse and ascending;

ashy canescent or green.

ashy canescent or green.

Leaves

(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.

(2.5–)4–11(–13) cm;

leaflets (9 or)11–15, blades broadly oblanceolate or obovate-cuneate, (3–)5–18 mm, apex openly notched.

Racemes

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

axis (3–)4–15(–17) cm in fruit.

loosely or remotely 15–25(–30)-flowered, lax and open in fruit;

axis 5–18 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

3–8(–9) cm.

3.5–9 cm.

Flowers

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.

11–12 mm;

calyx 5–6.6 mm, tube 3.8–4.5 mm, lobes 1.2–2.1 mm;

corolla pale purple.

Legumes

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.

greenish, usually mottled, becoming stramineous, obliquely ovoid-acuminate, bladdery-inflated, (10–)17–26 × 10–16 mm, bilocular, somewhat stiffly papery, opaque, strigulose;

beak (2–)3–7 mm, unilocular.

Seeds

23–29.

20–26.

2n

= 22.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. variabilis

Astragalus lentiginosus var. stramineus

Phenology Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Jun. Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Sandy flats, washes, desert playas, sometimes on dunes, usually with Larrea. Mixed warm-desert shrub communities.
Elevation 100–1000(–2100) m. (300–3300(–6900) ft.) 900–1000 m. (3000–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NV; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Variety stramineus is the only member of the species with moderate-sized, pale purple flowers known to occur in Washington County in Utah, and adjacent Arizona and Nevada; it is similar to the slightly smaller-flowered var. fremontii and to var. ambiguus.

(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. 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
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. 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 Cystium stramineum
Name authority Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 123, plate 4, figs. 1–8. (1945) (Rydberg) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 122. (1945)
Web links