Astragalus mollissimus var. mollissimus |
Astragalus mollissimus var. bigelovii |
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woolly locoweed |
Bigelow's woolly locoweed, woolly locoweed |
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Habit | Plants usually shortly caulescent, sometimes subacaulescent, to 45 cm. | Plants shortly caulescent, robust. |
Stems | 1.5–18 cm, internodes to 4 cm or obscured by imbricate stipules. |
(0 or)3–17 cm. |
Leaves | (7–)10–20(–25) cm; stipules (5–)7–17 mm; leaflets 15–27(–33), blades usually oval, ovate, or obovate, sometimes rhombic-elliptic, 5–22 mm. |
9–26 cm; stipules 6–20 mm; leaflets (13–)19–27, blades ovate, obovate, oval, or broadly elliptic, 6–25 mm. |
Racemes | (10–)15–40-flowered; axis elongating, (2–)4–17 cm in fruit. |
somewhat densely (15–)20–45-flowered, flowers subcontiguous or interrupted proximally; axis (4–)5–11 cm in fruit. |
Peduncles | 6–23 cm. |
(5–)8–22 cm. |
Flowers | calyx (8.8–)10.5–14 mm, tube 6.8–9.5 × 3.4–4.5 mm, lobes (2–)3–5 mm; corolla pinkish, pink-purple, pale yellow, or yellowish suffused with dull lavender; banner (16–)17.5–21.5 mm; keel 14–18 mm. |
calyx 10.5–13.5 cm, tube (8–)8.3–10.3 × (3.2–)4–5.2 mm, lobes (1.7–)2.6–4.4 mm; corolla pink-purple; banner 17–22.5 mm; keel 13.5–18.5 mm. |
Legumes | shallowly crescentic or abruptly incurved near middle through ± 90°, contracted distally, narrowly oblong-ellipsoid to lanceoloid-ellipsoid, 14–24 × 4–7 mm, mostly glabrous and apex usually puberulent or hispidulous, rarely puberulent, sometimes shortly villosulous throughout; beak unilocular. |
gently incurved or ± straight, ovoid-acuminate or lanceoloid-ellipsoid, sometimes slightly turgid, 10–15 × (4–)4.5–8 mm, stiffly papery or leathery, densely villous-tomentulose, hairs to 1–1.6 mm; beak bilocular. |
Seeds | 26–37. |
20–31. |
2n | = 22. |
= 22. |
Astragalus mollissimus var. mollissimus |
Astragalus mollissimus var. bigelovii |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | Flowering (Jan–)Mar–Jun. |
Habitat | Prairies, plains, valley floors, stony mesas, and fallow fields on alluvial loams, loess, on outcrops of shale, limestone, or sandstone, most abundant where vegetation is low and sparse. | Dry plains and foothills, in desert- or mesquite-grasslands, among junipers, on calcareous soils, sandy loams, basalt gravel, over-grazed and badly eroded cattle ranges. |
Elevation | 500–1900 m. (1600–6200 ft.) | 1200–1900(–2300) m. (3900–6200(–7500) ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; KS; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; WY |
AZ; NM; TX |
Discussion | Flowers of var. mollissimus are normally dull purplish, but in some New Mexico populations they are a pure pale yellow, the basis of forma flavus McGregor. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Variety bigelovii is known from extreme western Texas to southeastern Arizona and in New Mexico as far north as Socorro County and the Plains of San Augustin in Catron County. D. Isely (1998) recognized var. bigelovii at the species level, and included with it vars. marcidus, matthewsii, and mogollonicus, primarily on the basis of the completely bilocular fruits. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. bigelovii | |
Name authority | unknown | (A. Gray) Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13: 742. (1964) |
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