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Photo is of parent taxon

woodlands weedy milkvetch, woody milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

Yellowstone milkvetch

Herbage

strigulose-pilosulous, hairs basifixed.

strigulose, hairs obscurely malpighian, silvery cinereous, ± straight.

Stems

1–15 cm.

(1.5–)2.5–20 cm.

Leaves

(3–)4.5–19 cm;

leaflets (9 or)11–21, blades narrowly to broadly elliptic, lanceolate, or lanceolate-oblong, (3–)5–26 mm, apex acute, obtuse, obtuse and apiculate, or, rarely, retuse, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent.

(1.5–2.5–9.5 cm; leaflets 7–13(–17), blades linear to linear-elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 2–20 mm, apex attenuate to acute, surfaces pubescent;

terminal leaflet confluent with rachis.

Racemes

(3–)6–16-flowered;

axis (1–)1.5–7(–7.5) cm in fruit.

loosely (3–)5–12-flowered;

axis (1–)1.5–7.5 cm in fruit.

Flowers

calyx (3.8–)4–5.6 mm, tube 2.6–3.5 mm, lobes (0.9–)1–2.3 mm;

corolla whitish, sometimes purple-veined;

banner (5.2–)6.5–13 mm;

keel (7.1–)8–10(–11.4) mm.

calyx (2.3–)2.8–3.9 mm, tube (1.7–)2.2–2.9 mm, lobes 0.6–1.4 mm;

corolla whitish, ochroleucous, or stramineous, sometimes brownish-veined, keel apex maculate;

banner 6.6–8.6 mm;

keel 6.2–8.3(–8.8) mm.

Legumes

linear, linear-ellipsoid, or -oblanceoloid, (15–)18–25 × 2.5–4 mm, usually glabrous, rarely with few, scattered hairs.

linear or linear-oblanceoloid, 11–20 × (2–)2.5–3.4 mm, strigulose.

Seeds

(6 or)7–11.

7–11.

Astragalus miser var. hylophilus

Astragalus miser var. praeteritus

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Meadows, banks, open park­lands with lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, and ponderosa pine. Banks, hillsides, gravelly ridges, in sagebrush upward into lodgepole pine forest.
Elevation 900–2900 m. (3000–9500 ft.) 2200–2900 m. (7200–9500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
ID; MT; SD; WY
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ID; MT; WY
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety hylophilus occurs in the Rocky Mountains of western Wyoming and western Montana (and immediately adjoining Idaho), and the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Variety hylophilus is sympatric, in part, with vars. crispatus, miser, and tenuifolius. Its distinction may be preserved by ecological isolation; of the four varieties it is the most mesic, whereas the others are more xerophytic (D. Isely 1998).

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

Variety praeteritus occurs in southwestern Montana on the upper forks of the Missouri River to adjoining east-central Idaho, to Yellowstone Park and Grand Tetons in northwestern Wyoming.

D. Isely (1998) stated that var. praeteritus represents the more northern aspects of an expanded var. tenuifolius, based on the presence of malpighian pubescence, and he synonymized the two under the latter name. He was unsuccessful in correlating pubescence with geography. It is probable that the two varieties are best combined, but there is a tendency for plants of var. praeteritus to have broader leaflets.

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

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Genistoidei > Astragalus miser Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Genistoidei > Astragalus miser
Sibling taxa
A. miser var. crispatus, A. miser var. decumbens, A. miser var. miser, A. miser var. oblongifolius, A. miser var. praeteritus, A. miser var. serotinus, A. miser var. tenuifolius
A. miser var. crispatus, A. miser var. decumbens, A. miser var. hylophilus, A. miser var. miser, A. miser var. oblongifolius, A. miser var. serotinus, A. miser var. tenuifolius
Synonyms Homalobus hylophilus
Name authority (Rydberg) Barneby: Amer. Midl. Naturalist 55: 482. (1956) Barneby: Amer. Midl. Naturalist 55: 483. (1956)
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