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Ferron milkvetch, Ferron's milkvetch

Habit Plants clump-forming, acaulescent, 3–13 cm, strigose to strigulose, hairs basifixed or, incipiently, malpighian; from branched caudex, branches often with thatch of persistent leaf bases. Herbs perennial (sometimes flowering as annual), usually tuft- or mat-forming, acaulescent, subacaulescent, or caulescent; caudex usually superficial or aerial, sometimes subterranean.
Stems

reduced to crowns.

(when present) obsolete, single, few, or several to many.

Leaves

1.5–13 cm;

stipules 3.5–10 mm, firmly papery;

leaflets (1 or)3 or 5, blades elliptic to lanceolate, 5–35(–47) mm, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces strigose.

odd-pinnate, usually petiolate, rarely short-petiolate or subsessile;

leaflets (1 or)3–39(–43).

Racemes

1–6-flowered, flowers erect-ascending;

axis 0.2–1.4 cm in fruit;

bracts 1.6–4 mm;

bracteoles 0.

subcapitate to loosely flowered, flowers erect, ascending, spreading, declined, or nodding, secund, and retrorsely imbricate.

Peduncles

ascending, 0.5–7 cm.

Pedicels

1.2–4 mm.

Flowers

(18.5–)20–28 mm;

calyx cylindric, 12–16 mm, strigose-pilose, tube 9.5–13.5 mm, lobes subulate, 1.5–4 mm;

corolla pink-purple;

banner recurved through 40°;

keel (18–)19–22.7 mm.

Corollas

purple, pink-purple, magenta-purple, violet, bluish, lilac, scarlet, ochroleucous, greenish white, or white, banner barely recurved (A. phoenix) or recurved through 20–50° (90–100° in A. accumbens), keel apex obtuse.

Calyx

tubes cylindric or deeply campanulate.

Legumes

ascending to spreading (humistrate), green or purplish, incurved, obliquely ovoid, dorsiventrally compressed, 15–36 × 8–17 mm, unilocular, thickly succulent becoming alveolate-spongy, spongy-thickened cellular tissue 1.5–2 mm thick, hirsutulous to villous-hirsute, hairs spreading, 0.6–2 mm.

usually deciduous, usually sessile, rarely subsessile or substipitate, gynophore sometimes present, usually ascending (humistrate), less often spreading or pendulous, subglobose to ellipsoid, narrowly lanceoloid, ovoid or oblong-ellipsoid, or lanceoloid-ovoid, straight or usually incurved, usually compressed dorsiventrally, sometimes obcompressed, 3-sided, turgid, or inflated, unilocular, subunilocular, or bilocular.

Seeds

33–53.

11–70.

Hairs

basifixed or malpighian.

Stipules

distinct (except anomalous forms of A. missouriensis, A. tephrodes, and A. zionis).

Astragalus musiniensis

Astragalus sect. Argophylli

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Salt desert shrub, mixed desert shrub, and pinyon-juniper communities.
Elevation 1400–2400 m. (4600–7900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
w North America; n Mexico
Discussion

Astragalus musiniensis is restricted to Carbon, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Kane, Sevier, and Wayne counties in central and south-central Utah, extending eastward to Garfield and Mesa counties in west-central Colorado.

The pithy texture of the ripe fruit of Astragalus musiniensis is similar to that of A. chamaeleuce, but that species has malpighian hairs and more numerous leaflets.

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

Species 44 (44 in the flora).

Section Argophylli comprises ten subsections, widespread in western North America from southern British Columbia and Saskatchewan southward to northern Baja California, northern Sonora, and western Texas.

The subsections are: subsect. Argophylli (A. Gray) M. E. Jones (Astragalus argophyllus, A. callithrix, A. columbianus, A. cyaneus, A. desereticus, A. eurylobus, A. henrimontanensis, A. iodopetalus, A. piutensis, A. shortianus, A. tephrodes, A. tidestromii, A. uncialis, A. zionis); subsect. Pseudargophylli Barneby (A. feensis, A. waterfallii); subsect. Neomexicani Barneby (A. neomexicanus); subsect. Newberryani M. E. Jones (A. eurekensis, A. loanus, A. musiniensis, A. newberryi, A. phoenix, A. welshii); subsect. Concordi S. L. Welsh (A. concordius); subsect. Coccinei M. E. Jones (A. coccineus); subsect. Eriocarpi (A. Gray) Barneby (A. anserinus, A. funereus, A. inflexus, A. leucolobus, A. nudisiliquus, A. purshii, A. subvestitus, A. utahensis); subsect. Parryani Barneby (A. parryi); subsect. Missourienses M. E. Jones (A. accumbens, A. amphioxys, A. castaneiformis, A. chamaeleuce, A. consobrinus, A. cymboides, A. laccoliticus, A. missouriensis, A. piscator); and subsect. Anisi Barneby (A. anisus).

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

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Argophylli Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus
Sibling taxa
A. accidens, A. accumbens, A. ackermanii, A. acutirostris, A. adanus, A. aequalis, A. agnicidus, A. agrestis, A. albens, A. albulus, A. allochrous, A. alpinus, A. altus, A. alvordensis, A. amblytropis, A. americanus, A. amnis-amissi, A. amphioxys, A. ampullarioides, A. ampullarius, A. andersonii, A. anisus, A. anserinus, A. applegatei, A. aquilonius, A. aretioides, A. argophyllus, A. aridus, A. arizonicus, A. arrectus, A. arthurii, A. asclepiadoides, A. asotinensis, A. asymmetricus, A. atratus, A. atropubescens, A. atwoodii, A. austiniae, A. australis, A. barnebyi, A. barrii, A. beathii, A. beatleyae, A. beckwithii, A. bernardinus, A. bibullatus, A. bicristatus, A. bisulcatus, A. bodinii, A. bolanderi, A. bourgovii, A. brandegeei, A. brauntonii, A. brazoensis, A. breweri, A. californicus, A. callithrix, A. calycosus, A. camptopus, A. canadensis, A. caricinus, A. casei, A. castaneiformis, A. castetteri, A. ceramicus, A. cerussatus, A. chamaeleuce, A. chamaemeniscus, A. chinensis, A. chloödes, A. chuskanus, A. cibarius, A. cicer, A. cimae, A. claranus, A. clevelandii, A. cliffordii, A. cobrensis, A. coccineus, A. collinus, A. coltonii, A. columbianus, A. concordius, A. congdonii, A. conjunctus, A. consobrinus, A. contortuplicatus, A. convallarius, A. cottamii, A. crassicarpus, A. cremnophylax, A. cronquistii, A. crotalariae, A. curtipes, A. curvicarpus, A. cusickii, A. cutleri, A. cyaneus, A. cymboides, A. deanei, A. debequaeus, A. desereticus, A. desperatus, A. deterior, A. detritalis, A. diaphanus, A. didymocarpus, A. distortus, A. diversifolius, A. douglasii, A. drabelliformis, A. drummondii, A. duchesnensis, A. eastwoodiae, A. egglestonii, A. emoryanus, A. endopterus, A. ensiformis, A. episcopus, A. equisolensis, A. eremiticus, A. ertterae, A. eucosmus, A. eurekensis, A. eurylobus, A. falcatus, A. feensis, A. filipes, A. flavus, A. flexuosus, A. fucatus, A. funereus, A. gambelianus, A. geyeri, A. gibbsii, A. giganteus, A. gilensis, A. gilmanii, A. gilviflorus, A. glycyphyllos, A. gracilis, A. grayi, A. gypsodes, A. hallii, A. hamiltonii, A. harrisonii, A. heilii, A. henrimontanensis, A. holmgreniorum, A. hoodianus, A. hornii, A. howellii, A. humillimus, A. humistratus, A. hyalinus, A. hypoxylus, A. inflexus, A. insularis, A. inversus, A. inyoensis, A. iodanthus, A. iodopetalus, A. iselyi, A. jaegerianus, A. jejunus, A. johannis-howellii, A. kelseyae, A. kentrophyta, A. kerrii, A. knightii, A. laccoliticus, A. lancearius, A. laxmannii, A. layneae, A. leibergii, A. lemmonii, A. lentiformis, A. lentiginosus, A. leptaleus, A. leptocarpus, A. leucolobus, A. limnocharis, A. lindheimeri, A. linifolius, A. loanus, A. lonchocarpus, A. lotiflorus, A. lutosus, A. lyallii, A. macrodon, A. magdalenae, A. malacoides, A. malacus, A. megacarpus, A. michauxii, A. microcymbus, A. microcystis, A. microlobium, A. micromerius, A. miguelensis, A. minthorniae, A. misellus, A. miser, A. missouriensis, A. moencoppensis, A. mohavensis, A. mollissimus, A. molybdenus, A. monoensis, A. montii, A. monumentalis, A. mulfordiae, A. multiflorus, A. naturitensis, A. neglectus, A. nelsonianus, A. neomexicanus, A. nevinii, A. newberryi, A. nidularius, A. nothoxys, A. nudisiliquus, A. nutans, A. nutriosensis, A. nuttallianus, A. nuttallii, A. nutzotinensis, A. nyensis, A. obcordatus, A. obscurus, A. oniciformis, A. oocalycis, A. oocarpus, A. oophorus, A. oreganus, A. osterhoutii, A. oxyphysus, A. pachypus, A. palmeri, A. panamintensis, A. pardalinus, A. parryi, A. pattersonii, A. pauperculus, A. paysonii, A. peckii, A. pectinatus, A. perianus, A. phoenix, A. pictiformis, A. pinonis, A. piscator, A. piutensis, A. plattensis, A. platytropis, A. polaris, A. pomonensis, A. porrectus, A. praelongus, A. preussii, A. proimanthus, A. proximus, A. pseudiodanthus, A. pterocarpus, A. pubentissimus, A. pulsiferae, A. puniceus, A. purshii, A. pycnostachyus, A. racemosus, A. rafaelensis, A. rattanii, A. ravenii, A. recurvus, A. reflexus, A. remotus, A. reventiformis, A. reventus, A. riparius, A. ripleyi, A. robbinsii, A. rusbyi, A. sabulonum, A. sabulosus, A. salmonis, A. saurinus, A. scaphoides, A. schmolliae, A. sclerocarpus, A. scopulorum, A. sepultipes, A. serenoi, A. sericoleucus, A. serpens, A. sesquiflorus, A. sheldonii, A. shevockii, A. shortianus, A. siliceus, A. simplicifolius, A. sinuatus, A. solitarius, A. sophoroides, A. soxmaniorum, A. spaldingii, A. sparsiflorus, A. spatulatus, A. speirocarpus, A. straturensis, A. striatiflorus, A. subcinereus, A. subvestitus, A. succumbens, A. tegetarioides, A. tener, A. tennesseensis, A. tephrodes, A. terminalis, A. tetrapterus, A. thurberi, A. tibetanus, A. tidestromii, A. tiehmii, A. titanophilus, A. toanus, A. toquimanus, A. tortipes, A. traskiae, A. tricarinatus, A. trichopodus, A. tridactylicus, A. troglodytus, A. tweedyi, A. tyghensis, A. umbellatus, A. umbraticus, A. uncialis, A. utahensis, A. vaccarum, A. vallaris, A. vexilliflexus, A. villosus, A. wardii, A. waterfallii, A. webberi, A. welshii, A. wetherillii, A. whitneyi, A. williamsii, A. wingatanus, A. wittmannii, A. woodruffii, A. wootonii, A. wrightii, A. xiphoides, A. yoderwilliamsii, A. zionis
Subordinate taxa
Name authority M. E. Jones: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 671. (1895) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 6: 209. (1864)
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