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Photo is of parent taxon

Earle's woolly locoweed, woolly locoweed

Photo is of parent taxon

Thompson's woolly locoweed, woolly locoweed

Habit Plants subacaulescent or shortly caulescent. Plants acaulescent, 6–45 cm, from caudex.
Stems

to 10(–16) cm.

mostly obscured by stipules.

Leaves

8–32 cm;

stipules 5–15 mm;

leaflets 19–35, blades oblanceolate, rhombic-ovate, or rhombic-obovate, (5–)10–30(–45) mm.

2–28 cm;

stipules 4–13 mm;

leaflets 15–35, blades obovate to suborbiculate or elliptic, 2–18 mm.

Racemes

15–36-flowered;

axis elongating, 4–15 cm in fruit.

7–25-flowered;

axis 1.5–18 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

(5–)8–17 cm.

2.5–24 cm.

Flowers

calyx (8.5–)8.8–10.5 mm, tube (4.5–)5–7 × 0.8–3(–3.2) mm, lobes 2.4–4 mm;

corolla pink-purple or yellowish tipped and suffused or margined with dull purple;

banner 12–17.5 mm;

keel 9–13 mm.

calyx 11–15.5 mm, tube 7.7–13 mm, lobes 2–4.2 mm;

corolla pink-purple;

banner 18–25 mm;

keel 15–18.5(–20.5) mm.

Legumes

± incurved, abruptly contracted distally, obliquely ovoid-ellipsoid or lanceoloid-ellipsoid, 9–14 × 4–6.5(–9) mm, usually sparsely villous-tomentulose or loosely strigulose, rarely glabrate or glabrous, hairs ascending and almost straight, or subappressed and curly, less than 1 mm;

beak bilocular.

curved, ovoid, turgid, 11–23 × 6–11 mm, densely villous-tomentose;

beak unilocular.

Seeds

20–30.

28–38.

2n

= 22, 24.

Astragalus mollissimus var. earlei

Astragalus mollissimus var. thompsoniae

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun. Flowering Mar–Jun (Oct).
Habitat Dry hills and grassy plains, on volcanic and calcareous soils. Salt desert shrub, mixed desert shrub, grasslands, and pinyon-juniper communities, usually on sandy substrates.
Elevation 1100–1800 m. (3600–5900 ft.) (700–)1100–2400 m. ((2300–)3600–7900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; NM; NV; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Within the flora area, var. earlei is a plant common in the trans-Pecos region of Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

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

Variety thompsoniae is transitional with var. matthewsii in northwestern New Mexico.

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

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Mollissimi > Astragalus mollissimus Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Mollissimi > Astragalus mollissimus
Sibling taxa
A. mollissimus var. bigelovii, A. mollissimus var. coryi, A. mollissimus var. marcidus, A. mollissimus var. matthewsii, A. mollissimus var. mogollonicus, A. mollissimus var. mollissimus, A. mollissimus var. thompsoniae
A. mollissimus var. bigelovii, A. mollissimus var. coryi, A. mollissimus var. earlei, A. mollissimus var. marcidus, A. mollissimus var. matthewsii, A. mollissimus var. mogollonicus, A. mollissimus var. mollissimus
Synonyms A. earlei A. thompsoniae
Name authority (Greene ex Rydberg) Tidestrom: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 48: 40. (1935) (S. Watson) Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13: 747. (1964) — (as thompsonae)
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