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Astragalus
calycosus (Torrey's Milkvetch) Fabaceae (Pea Family) Semi-desert-montane.
Openings. Spring. |
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Astragalus
calycosus (Torrey's Milkvetch) Fabaceae (Pea Family) Semi-desert-montane.
Openings. Spring. Astragalus calycosus most often forms a symmetrically round mat of light green, oval, hairy leaves surmounted by numerous leafless flower stalks which lean outward encircling the mound of leaves. The plant is at home in rocks and sand in the lower Pinyon/Juniper forests and in mountain soils. It can put on a magnificent bloom, covering hundreds of square feet with many dozens of plants. John Torrey named this plant in 1871 from a specimen Sereno Watson collected in 1868. "Calycosus" refers to the conspicuous calyx. |
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Astragalus calycosus (Torrey's Milkvetch) Fabaceae (Pea Family) Semi-desert-montane.
Openings. Spring. Two further characteristic that help identify A. calycosus are the lobed white wing petals and the usually straight, rounded at the bottom, 1-2.5 cm long, hairy seed pods.
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Astragalus calycosus (Torrey's Milkvetch) Fabaceae (Pea Family) Semi-desert-montane.
Openings. Spring. Leaves are typically several inches long and are divided into 3-13 leaflets which can be a variety of shapes: obovate, spatulate, oblanceolate, or elliptic -- even on the same plant. Leaflet tips vary from obtuse to acute. Leaves (as well as most of the plant) have strigose, malpighian hairs, i.e., the hairs are short, sharp tipped, appressed and attached with a short stem from their middle.
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Astragalus calycosus (Torrey's Milkvetch) Fabaceae (Pea Family) Semi-desert-montane.
Openings. Spring. A magnificent year for Astragalus calycosus flowers is followed by a magnificent year for seed production. |
Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Astragalus calycosus |