Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Astragalus whitneyi var. whitneyi
Photo is of parent taxon

balloonpod milkvetch, Whitney's milk vetch
Herbage

strigulose, hairs appressed or narrowly ascending, straight or subsinuous, (0.3–)0.4–0.6 mm.
Stems

low and diffuse or erect (when supported by sagebrush), 5–25 cm.
Leaves

(1.5–)3–11 cm;

leaflets 9–17(or 19), blades 2–13(–15) mm.
Racemes

(3–)5–15-flowered;

axis 1–4(–4.5) cm in fruit.
Flowers

calyx 4.5–6.4 mm, tube (3.5–)3.7–4.2(–4.7) mm, lobes 0.8–1.5(–1.8) mm;

corolla lilac or pink-purple, wing tips pale or white;

banner (8.3–)10–14.2(–16.5) mm.
Legumes

15–30(–40) × 10–18(–22) mm, glabrous;

stipe 2–4.5 mm.
Seeds

18–30.
2n

= 22.

Astragalus whitneyi var. whitneyi
Phenology Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Slopes and ridges at or above timberline, sagebrush valleys and foothills.
Elevation 2000–3700 m. (6600–12100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ranging from the mountains of southern California through the Sierra Nevada to northwestern Nevada, the widespread var. whitneyi can usually be distinguished by its red-purple or pink-purple petals and the fruits of relatively medium size. Morphological characters overlap, and some specimens of vars. siskiyouensis and whitneyi can be distinguished only by origin.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Cusickiani > Astragalus whitneyi
Sibling taxa
A. whitneyi var. confusus, A. whitneyi var. lenophyllus, A. whitneyi var. siskiyouensis, A. whitneyi var. sonneanus
Name authority unknown
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers