Plant Database

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems several or numerous, decumbent and assurgent, 2-4 (4.5) dm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Leaf: "Stipules 1.5-4 mm. long, dimorphic, the lowest early becoming papery-scarious, the very lowest 1-3 pairs amplexicaul and connate into a bidentate sheath or low collar, the rest ovate or deltoid-acuminate, cauline, the herbaceous blades deflexed; leaves 3-11 (13.5) cm. long, the lower shortly petioled, the upper subsessile, with (11) 13-21 (23) opposite or scattered, linear, linear- elliptic, or narrowly oblong, more rarely oblong-elliptic or oblanceolate, mostly obtuse or retuse, sometimes subacute, folded, involute, or rarely flat leaflets (2) 4-25 (27) mm. long, the terminal one usually jointed like the rest, sometimes (in some upper leaves) continuous with the rachis." (bibref: 1813).
Flower: "Peduncles rather stout, 5-12 (15) cm. long, usually longer than the leaf, incurved-ascending; racemes loosely or (at very early anthesis) closely 5-15 (20)-flowered, the flowers ascending, the axis becoming 1.5-6 (9) cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous, triangular-ovate, 1.5-2.5 mm. long; pedicels at anthesis straight, ascending, 0.8-1.7 mm. long, in fruit thickened, arched outward, (1) 1.4-2.5 mm. long; bracteoles 2, minute, rarely 0; calyx 8.1-10.1 mm. long, loosely strigulose with black or mixed black and white hairs, the oblique disc 1.3-2 mm. deep, the submembranous, pallid, deeply campanulate tube 5.8-7.6 mm. long, 3.8-4.7 mm. in diameter, the subulate teeth 1.8-3.3 mm. long, the ventral pair often shortest and broadest, the orifice oblique; petals greenish-white, drying ochroleucous, immaculate; banner recurved through 45-50 degrees (further in withering), rhombic-elliptic or -lanceolate, cuneate at base, broadest below the middle, the blade tapering upward, notched at the narrow apex; wings 13-16 mm. long, the claws 6.5-7.8 mm., the narrowly lance- or rarely oblance-oblong, obtuse or erose-emarginate blades 7.2-9.7 mm. long, (2) 2.3-3 mm. wide; keel 12-13 mm. long, the claws 6.5-7.6 mm., the half-obovate blades 5.4-7 mm. long, 2.9-3.7 mm. wide, abruptly incurved through 90-95 degrees to the sharply deltoid apex; anthers 0.6-0.85 (0.95) mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Fruit: "Pod pendulous, stipitate, the stout, downwardly arched stipe (6) 8-12 mm. long, the body obliquely oblong- or clavate-ellipsoid, 2-4 (4.3) cm. long, 5-8.5 (9) mm. in diameter, either cuneate at base or (more often) acuminately tapering from above the middle into the stipe, cuneately contracted distally into a triangular-acuminate, rarely long-acuminate, stiffly cuspidate, laterally compressed beak, the whole either gently lunate-incurved its whole length, or straight below and then abruptly hamate, or evenly arched through 1/2 -circle, or exceptionally coiled into a ring, the body fleshy and subterete or a trifle obcompressed when first formed, becoming more strongly dorsiventrally compressed in ripening (and the more so the more incurved), at length bicarinate by the salient sutures, the lateral angles transversely dilated and obtuse-angled, the thick, smooth, green, glabrous valves becoming brownish, stiffly leathery or subligneous, coarsely rugulose-reticulate and wrinkled lengthwise distally, not inflexed; dehiscence primarily through the stipe and upward 1/3 way through both sutures, also tardily apical, through the beak; ovules 26-33; seeds brown, purple- speckled, smooth, dull or sublustrous, 2.8-3.8 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: White , Yellow , Green
Bloom Time: May , Jun , Jul , Aug
Bloom Notes: "Petals greenish-white, drying ochroleucous, immaculate." (bibref: 1813).

Distribution

USA: CA
Native Distribution: "Local but forming colonies in the transverse ranges of southern California, in particular about the east end of the San Gabriel Range (West and Prairie Forks of San Gabriel River to Swartout Valley) and northeast end of the San Bernardino Mountains (Bear and Holcomb Valleys and the north slope of Sugarloaf Mountain), Los Angeles and western San Bernardino Counties." (bibref: 1813).
Native Habitat: "Rocky ridges, stony sagebrush flats, lake shores, canyon benches, and openings in pine forest, 5850—8000 (reportedly 9000) feet." (bibref: 1813).

Bibliography

Bibref 1813 - Atlas of North American Astragalus (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.

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Additional resources

USDA: Find Astragalus bicristatus in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Astragalus bicristatus in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus bicristatus