Astragalus missouriensis var. humistratus |
Astragalus missouriensis var. missouriensis |
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archuleta milkvetch, Missouri milkvetch |
Missouri milk-vetch |
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Habit | Plants caulescent. | Plants usually shortly caulescent, sometimes subacaulescent. |
Stems | 10–15(–20) cm. |
to 15 cm. |
Racemes | 9–12-flowered. |
(3–)5–15-flowered. |
Flowers | calyx 7.8–10 mm, tube 6–10 mm, lobes 1.5–3 mm; corolla lavender, purple, or almost white, wing tips often white; banner (17–)19–20.5 mm. |
calyx 9–12(–14.3) mm, tube 6.3–9(–9.3) mm, lobes 1.4–4.5(–5.3) mm; corolla usually pink-purple, rarely white; banner (14.5–)16–22(–24) mm; keel (11.5–)12.8–17.3(–18.5) mm. |
Legumes | ascending to descending, dorsiventrally compressed, lunately incurved, oblong-ellipsoid, (12–)17–20 × 6–9 mm, unilocular, apex obcompressed proximal to incurved beak, glabrous or sparsely strigulose. |
ascending, initially subterete or ± dorsiventrally compressed, ± straight, subsymmetrically oblong-ellipsoid, ± laterally compressed and obtuse-angled when mature, 15–28(–30) × (4–)5–9(–10) mm, subunilocular, base obtuse or sometimes cuneate, apex abruptly contracted into subulate, pungent beak, sutures prominent, strigulose. |
Seeds | 33–40. |
(33–)40–50(–56). |
2n | = 22. |
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Astragalus missouriensis var. humistratus |
Astragalus missouriensis var. missouriensis |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jul. | Flowering late Mar–Jul. |
Habitat | Oak brush with scattered ponderosa pine on clay knolls, pinyon-juniper woodlands, associated with Lewis and Mancos formations. | Prairies, valleys, hillsides, dry open places, on limestone, shale, sandstone, or gypsum substrates. |
Elevation | 2100–2500 m. (6900–8200 ft.) | 300–2400 m. (1000–7900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; NM |
AZ; CO; IA; KS; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; WY; AB; MB; SK |
Discussion | Variety humistratus is locally distributed in Archuleta, Hinsdale, and La Plata counties, Colorado, and adjacent Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. It is anomalous in its strongly caulescent but mat-forming habit, and the slightly or plainly connate stipules. R. C. Barneby (1964) suggested a hybrid origin between Astragalus missouriensis and A. humistratus. Variety humistratus is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
There is an irregular cline in flower size of var. missouriensis, from smallest in the north to largest in the south; caulescent forms appear to be more common southward (D. Isely 1998). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Isely: Syst. Bot. 8: 423. (1983) | unknown |
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