Plant Database

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems few or sometimes solitary, prostrate or ascending from the root-crown or from a shortly forking caudex, 1-6 (exceptionally, in shelter of sagebrush, up to 15) cm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Leaf: "Stipules submembranous, ovate or triangular-acuminate, 2-5 mm. long, erect, pilose dorsally, semiamplexicaul; leaves 2-8 (14) cm. long, with flaccid, deciduous petiole and (7) 9-19 (21) obovate, obovate-cuneate, suborbicular, or rarely broadly lanceolate, obtuse or truncate- emarginate, flat or loosely folded, thick-textured leaflets 2-13 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Flower: "Peduncles (1) 2-5 (13) cm. long, shorter than the leaf, at first anthesis erect or arcuate- ascending, spreading or procumbent in fruit; racemes loosely but sometimes sub- capitately 5-15-flowered, the axis scarcely elongating, 0.5-4 (8) cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous with firm midrib, lanceolate or lance-acuminate, 3-7.5 mm. long; pedicels at anthesis slender, 1-1.5 mm. long, in fruit thickened but scarcely or not elongating, ascending or arched outward; bracteoles 0-2, minute when present; calyx 6.8-13.3 mm. long, the obliquely turbinate disc 0.9-1.8 mm. deep, the membranous, purplish, cylindric tube 5.5-10.8 mm. long, 2.7-4 mm. in diameter, the subulate or lanceolate teeth 1-3.2 mm. long, the dorsal one sometimes shortest, the ventral sinus deely cut back, the orifice oblique; petals bright pink-purple; banner recurved through about 40 degrees, oblanceolate or rhombic- oblanceolate, emarginate, 16-26 mm. long, 6-11 mm. wide; wings 15.3-23.8 mm. long, the claws 6-11 mm., the linear-oblong or -lanceolate, obtuse, nearly straight blades 10-14.5 mm. long, 2-2.8 mm. wide; keel (12) 13-20.7 mm. long, the claws 6.8-11.5 mm., the lunately half-elliptic blades 7-10 mm. long, 2.8-3.4 mm. wide, gently incurved through about 45 degrees to the broadly rounded apex; anthers 0.5-0.7 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Fruit: "Pod ascending or loosely spreading (commonly humistrate), obliquely oblong-ovoid, 1-1.6 (2) cm. long, 5-7.5 mm. in diameter, slightly tumid, truncate or rounded at base, in the lower ? straight, strongly obcompressed, and dorsally flattened or openly sulcate, passing upward and incurved through 90-180 degrees into a deltoid or triangular-acuminate, sharply cuspidate, laterally compressed beak, the somewhat fleshy, green valves hirsute (but not so densely as to conceal either the shape or surface of the pod) with fine, lustrous, widely spreading, straight or somewhat twisted hairs up to 2-2.5 mm. long, becoming stramineous, smooth or a trifle rugulose, not inflexed; dehiscence apical, through the gaping beak, after falling; ovules 24-34 (37); seeds ocher-brown, smooth or nearly so, about 2 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: Pink , Purple
Bloom Time: May , Jun
Bloom Notes: "Petals bright pink-purple." (bibref: 1814).

Distribution

USA: NV , UT
Native Distribution: "Locally plentiful but apparently rare and highly localized, known only from a small area lying between the Quinn Canyon and Hot Creek Ranges in northeastern Nye County, Nevada." (bibref: 1814).
Native Habitat: "Bare open places on semistabilized dunes or in deep sandy soil on the floor of sagebrush valleys, 5100-5200 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 callithrix in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Astragalus callithrix in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus callithrix