Plant Database

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems usually stouter and coarser than A. b. var. Beckwithii, decumbent and ascending from the root-crown or shortly forking caudex, (2) 3-4 dm. lon." (bibref: 1814).
Leaf: "Stipules herbaceous, the lowest becoming papery, 3-8 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; leaves (2) 4-15 cm. long, petioled but the upper ones shortly so, with (7) 11-27 broadly rhombic- or oblong-ovate, obtuse or mucronulate, flat leaflets 0.7-2.4 cm. 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, 2-4 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, up to 2 mm. long; calyx nearly glabrous except for a few black hairs on and within the teeth, 10.8-12.8 mm. long, the subsymmetric disc 0.9-1.5 mm. deep, the tube 6.2-6.8 mm. long, about 5 mm. in diameter, the teeth 4-6.6 mm. long, the whole becoming papery, marcescent unruptured; petals cream-colored; banner abruptly recurved through about 90 degrees, 18-20 mm. long, broadest either above or below the middle, the blade ovate, obovate, or obscurely fiddle-shaped; wings 18.6-19 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 14.5-14.8 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 slender gynophore 4-5 mm. long, obliquely ellipsoid, oblong- or ovoid-ellipsoid, 2-2.5 cm. long, 6-7.5 mm. in diameter, body lunately oblong, incurved through 1/4- 1/2-circle, usually acute at both ends, more or less obcompressed and dorsally sulcate from base to beak, keeled ventrally by the prominent, narrowly but sharply wing-margined suture, the fleshy, glabrous, pale green or glaucescent and 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
Bloom Time: May , Jun , Jul
Bloom Notes: "Petals cream-colored." (bibref: 1814).

Distribution

USA: ID
Native Distribution: "Locally plentiful but known only from the banks of the Salmon River in eastern Lemhi County, Idaho, from North Fork upstream about 40 miles." (bibref: 1814).
Native Habitat: "Open brushy slopes, on volcanic gravelly clay soils, 3600-4500 feet." (bibref: 1814).

Bibliography

Bibref 1814 - Atlas of North American Astragalus Volume 2 (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.

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Additional resources

USDA: Find Astragalus beckwithii var. sulcatus in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Astragalus beckwithii var. sulcatus in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus beckwithii var. sulcatus