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Photo is of parent taxon

Thompson's woolly locoweed, woolly locoweed

Photo is of parent taxon

Mogollon woolly locoweed, woolly locoweed

Habit Plants acaulescent, 6–45 cm, from caudex. Plants acaulescent, usually dwarf.
Stems

mostly obscured by stipules.

reduced to thick crowns, closely invested with stipules.

Leaves

2–28 cm;

stipules 4–13 mm;

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

(4–)6–16 cm;

stipules 5–12 mm;

leaflets (9–)13–23, blades broadly elliptic to suborbiculate, 3–13 mm.

Racemes

7–25-flowered;

axis 1.5–18 cm in fruit.

densely 12–32-flowered;

axis 1.5–6 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

2.5–24 cm.

scapiform, 4–10 cm.

Flowers

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.

calyx 10–15.3 mm, tube 6.6–8.5 × 3.2–5 mm, lobes 3.3–6.8 mm;

corolla pink-purple;

banner 16–21.5 mm;

keel 12.5–14.5 mm.

Legumes

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

beak unilocular.

± straight to gently incurved, narrowly ovoid or lunately ellipsoid, 9–13 × 4.5–6 mm, densely villous-tomentose, hairs to 1.6–2.6 mm;

beak bilocular.

Seeds

28–38.

19–28.

Astragalus mollissimus var. thompsoniae

Astragalus mollissimus var. mogollonicus

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun (Oct). Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat Salt desert shrub, mixed desert shrub, grasslands, and pinyon-juniper communities, usually on sandy substrates. Stony flats and hilltops, on pebbly, volcanic soils of open ponderosa pine forests, on limestone substrates, rocky knolls in pinyon-juniper belt.
Elevation (700–)1100–2400 m. ((2300–)3600–7900 ft.) 1800–2300 m. (5900–7500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; NM; NV; UT
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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

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

D. Isely (1998) viewed var. mogollonicus as a reduced phase of var. bigelovii, but var. mogollonicus is distinguished by its acaulescent growth habit and scapiform peduncles. It occurs from the Kaibab Plateau south of the Grand Canyon in Arizona to the southeast along the Mogollon Escarpment to western 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. earlei, A. mollissimus var. marcidus, A. mollissimus var. matthewsii, A. mollissimus var. mogollonicus, A. mollissimus var. mollissimus
A. mollissimus var. bigelovii, A. mollissimus var. coryi, A. mollissimus var. earlei, A. mollissimus var. marcidus, A. mollissimus var. matthewsii, A. mollissimus var. mollissimus, A. mollissimus var. thompsoniae
Synonyms A. thompsoniae A. mogollonicus, A. bigelovii var. mogollonicus
Name authority (S. Watson) Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13: 747. (1964) — (as thompsonae) (Greene) Barneby: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13: 745. (1964)
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