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 milkvetch, glass freckled milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

Kern milkvetch, Kern Plateau milk vetch, Kern River milkvetch

Habit Plants perennial, 15–40 cm. Plants perennial, 2.5–12 cm.
Stems

glabrous or glabrate.

prostrate or decumbent.

Leaves

4.5–10 cm;

leaflets (7–)13–19, blades obovate-cuneate or oblong-obovate, (5–)7–17(–21) mm, apex obtuse or truncate-emarginate.

1–5 cm;

leaflets (7–)11–19, mostly conduplicate, blades elliptic-oblanceolate, oval, or obovate, 1.5–7 mm, apex obtuse or emarginate.

Racemes

loosely (10–)15–27-flowered, lax and open in fruit;

axis 4–8.5 cm in fruit.

shortly and loosely (2 or)3–9-flowered, short and compact in fruit;

axis 0.3–1.5 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

4–9.5 cm.

0.6–2.5 cm.

Flowers

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.

9.3–11.3 mm;

calyx 4.1–5.3 mm, tube 3.5–4.6 mm, lobes 0.6–1.2 mm;

corolla whitish or suffused purplish.

Legumes

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.

in loose or compact, humistrate clusters, pale green or stramineous, purple-mottled, becoming brownish, globose or very broadly and plumply ovoid or obovoid, bladdery-inflated, 6–13 × 6–10 mm, papery, subtranslucent, sparsely and loosely strigulose;

beak linear- or subulate-tubular, cusplike, bilocular.

Seeds

21–31.

(7–)10–18.

2n

= 22.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. vitreus

Astragalus lentiginosus var. kernensis

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Gullied badlands and desert flats, on sand or clay derived from sandstone or limestone, on volcanic gravel. Dry, gravelly or sandy slopes and flats, with sagebrush, in lodgepole pine forests on granite, with bristlecone pine, on limestone.
Elevation 800–1500(–2000) m. (2600–4900(–6600) ft.) (1900–)2300–3100 m. ((6200–)7500–10200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; UT
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

The relatively small fruit size of var. kernensis coupled with a narrow, tubular beak resembling a persistent style are the main features of this delicate, montane plant. It is locally plentiful in two widely separate and restricted areas: the Kern Plateau just west of the Sierra Nevada crest in Tulare County, California, and about the summit of Charleston Peak in Clark County, Nevada.

(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. variabilis, 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. 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. variabilis, A. lentiginosus var. vitreus, A. lentiginosus var. wahweapensis, A. lentiginosus var. wilsonii, A. lentiginosus var. yuccanus
Synonyms A. kernensis
Name authority Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 119, plate 3, figs. 30–33. (1945) (Jepson) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 102. (1945)
Web links