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Astragalus beckwithii var. beckwithii
Astragalus beckwithii Torr. & A. Gray var. beckwithii
Beckwith's Milkvetch
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonym(s):
USDA Symbol: ASBEB
USDA Native Status: L48 (N)
"Caulescent but variable in stature, glabrous or nearly so but the leaflets often thinly ciliate, and the bracts, raceme-axis, and inner face or tips of the calyx-teeth beset with a few straight, appressed hairs up to 0.3-0.6 mm. long, those of the inflorescence usually black, the herbage thick-textured, green, pale green, or glaucescent; stems usually slender, decumbent and ascending from the root-crown or shortly forking caudex, (0.2) 1-3 dm. long, simple or bearing 1-3 branches or spurs at the lowest axils.." (bibref: 1814).
"The typical variety of the Beckwith milk-vetch is a relatively slender plant with almost round, emarginate or very obtuse leaflets rarely surpassing 12 mm. in length. To the north of Great Salt Lake the plants tend to become coarser in growth, with larger obovate leaflets, and on the Smoke River watershed these probably pass gradually into A. b. var. weiserensis. It differs perceptibly from var. purpureus only in having creamy-white petals without any trace of purple.." (bibref: 1814).
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Plant Characteristics
Duration: PerennialHabit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems usually slender, (0.2) 1-3 dm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Leaf: "Stipules herbaceous, the lowest becoming papery, 2-7 mm. long, the lower ones amplexicaul-decurrent around half to the whole stem's circumference, the upper more or less semiamplexicaul, with deltoid or triangular, often recurving blades, herbage green or pale green; leaves (2) 4-15 cm. long, petioled but the upper ones shortly so, with (7) 11-27 suborbicular, broadly oval, obovate, or rhombic- elliptic, obtuse, retuse, or sometimes mucronulate, leaflets commonly suborbicular or broadly oval, truncate or retuse, rarely ovate or obovate, 3-13 (17) mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Flower: "Peduncles erect or incurved-ascending, 3-14 cm. long, shorter than the leaf; racemes loosely but shortly 7-16-flowered, the flowers ascending at a wide angle, the axis 1-7 cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous or early becoming so, ovate or lanceolate, 2.5-4 mm. long; pedicels at anthesis slender, ascending, 1-2.5 mm. long, in fruit either ascending or arched outward, 2-3.5 mm. long; bracteoles commonly 2, sometimes conspicuous, 0.2 mm. long; calyx nearly always black-strigulose, 7.2-8.2 (9) mm. long, the subsymmetric disc 0.9-1.5 mm. deep, the tube 3.5-5.3 mm. long, 3.2-4 mm. in diameter, the subulate or lanceolate teeth 2.5-3.7 mm. long, the whole becoming papery, marcescent unruptured; petals ochroleucous, or purple with whitish wing-tips, rarely almost white; banner abruptly recurved through about 90 degrees, 16.5-21 mm. long, broadest either above or below the middle, the blade ovate, obovate, or obscurely fiddle-shaped; wings 15-20 mm. long, the claws 6.5-9 mm, the oblanceolate or narrowly oblong-elliptic, obtuse or rarely subemarginate, straight or slightly incurved blades 10-13.5 mm. long, 2.6-4 mm. wide, keel 11.5-15.5 mm. long, the claws 6.2-8.5 mm., the half-obovate blades 5-7 mm. long, 2.8-3.8 mm wide, abruptly incurved through 90-100 degrees to the deltoid, sometimes obscurely porrect apex; anthers (0.6) 0.65-0.85 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Fruit: "Pod ascending, spreading, or somewhat declined, elevated on a stout, straight gynophore 1.5-5 mm. long, obliquely ellipsoid, oblong- or ovoid-ellipsoid, (1.5) 2-3 cm. long, 7-12 mm. in diameter, sharply incurved or bent (mostly at or below the middle) through 45-135 (180) degrees, usually acute at both ends, more or less obcompressed and dorsally flattened or sulcate below the laterally compressed, triangular beak, keeled ventrally by the prominent, narrowly but sharply wing-margined suture, the fleshy, glabrous, pale green or glaucescent and nearly always, though sometimes only faintly, mottled valves becoming stiffly leathery, brownish or stramineous, inflexed as a narrow, sometimes sub- obsolete septum up to 1 (1.5) mm. wide, this usually broadest just below the beak and becoming narrower or disappearing downward; ovules (18) 25-41; seeds light or dark brown, smooth but dull, 2.3-3.4 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Bloom Information
Bloom Color: White , Yellow , PurpleBloom Time: Apr , May , Jun
Bloom Notes: "Petals ochroleucous, or purple with whitish wing-tips, rarely almost white. Late April to June." (bibref: 1814).
Distribution
USA: ID , NV , UTNative Distribution: "Common and locally abundant in and around the Great Salt Lake Desert in northwestern Utah and northeastern Nevada, south, becoming rarer, to the middle Sevier Valley and Escalante Desert in central and southwestern Utah." (bibref: 1814).
Native Habitat: "Dry hillsides and canyon banks, in alkaline, gravelly soils of various origins but preferring limestone, often among sagebrush or bud-sage (Artemisia arbuscula or A. spinescens), 4200-6450 feet." (bibref: 1814).
Bibliography
Bibref 1814 - Atlas of North American Astragalus Volume 2 (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.Search More Titles in Bibliography
Additional resources
USDA: Find Astragalus beckwithii var. beckwithii in USDA PlantsFNA: Find Astragalus beckwithii var. beckwithii in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus beckwithii var. beckwithii
Metadata
Record Modified: 2020-12-07Research By: Joseph A. Marcus