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Astragalus cimae var. cimae
Astragalus cimae M.E. Jones var. cimae
Cima Milkvetch
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonym(s):
USDA Symbol: ASCIC3
USDA Native Status: L48 (N)
"Low, rather coarse, with a knotty root-crown or shortly forking, superficial caudex, the stems and thick-textured, glaucescent foliage glabrous or nearly so, the margins of the stipules sometimes beset with straight, subappressed hairs up to 0.2-0.5 mm. long, the inflorescence thinly black-strigulose; stems usually few, commonly 1-3 (7), decumbent with ascending tips, simple, (3.5) 6-24 cm. long, the lowest internodes short or subobsolete, the upper 2-6 developed and up to (1.5) 2.5-9 cm. long." (bibref: 1813).
"The Cima milk-vetch is easily recognized in the eastern Mohave Desert by its diffuse, glabrous stems, thick-textured foliage of a pallid glaucescent green, bicolored flowers of moderate size, and clavately stipitate, obcompressed, bilocular pod of fleshy or at length almost woody texture. The pale lilac or white wing-tips and pallid, flabellately purple-veined lozenge on the banner form a pleasing contrast with the vinous-purple hue of the other petals, a characteristic shade which turns violet in the press. The pod’s curvature is always pronounced but quite variable. It may be abruptly bent inward near the junction of body and stipe and moderately incurved thereafter; or strongly incurved throughout; or sometimes nearly straight at both ends, but abruptly and strongly hooked near the middle." (bibref: 1813).
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Plant Characteristics
Duration: PerennialHabit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems usually few, commonly 1-3 (7), decumbent with ascending tips, simple, (3.5) 6-24 cm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Leaf: "Stipules 5-10 mm. long, membranous, pallid, or the uppermost thinly herbaceous, all several-nerved, the lower ones broadly ovate, mostly obtuse, amplexicaul-decurrent around more or less 3/4 the stem's circumference, the upper ones narrower, the uppermost lance-ovate or ovate-acuminate, mostly acute; leaves 4.5-11 cm. long, all but the lowest subsessile, with 11-21 (23) obovate-cuneate, ovate, broadly oblong-elliptic, or suborbicular, obtuse or emarginate, flat leaflets 5-20 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Flower: "Peduncles 3-8.5 cm. long, incurved-ascending at anthesis, reclinate in fruit; racemes loosely 10-25-flowered, the flowers at first ascending, sometimes loosely declined in age, the axis elongating, (3) 4-12 cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous, pallid, broadly ovate-acuminate or lanceolate, (3) 4-6 mm. long; pedicels at anthesis ascending, 0.6-1 mm. long, in fruit a little thickened, arched outward, 1-2 mm. long; bracteoles 2, minute or up to 2 mm. long; calyx 5.9-7.6 mm. long, strigulose with black or mixed black and white hairs, the oblique disc 0.9-1.5 mm. deep, the membranous, purplish, deeply campanulate tube 4.5-5.6 mm. long, 2.8-3.6 mm. in diameter, the erect or spreading, subulate or triangular-subulate teeth 1.3-2.5 mm. long; petals reddish-purple with white or lilac wing-tips and a pale, striate lozenge in the banner, drying violet; banner 12-15 mm. long, the long-cuneate claw abruptly expanded into a rhombic-ovate, shallowly or deeply notched blade 6.6-8.7 mm. wide; wings 10.6-13 mm. long, the claws 5.1-6 mm., the narrowly oblong, obtuse or obliquely emarginate, nearly straight blades 6.1-8.4 mm. long, 2.5-3.2 mm. wide; keel 9.5-10.6 mm. long, the claws 4.8-5.8 mm., the broadly half-obovate blades 5.2-6 mm. long, 2.5-3.2 mm. wide, rather abruptly incurved through 80-90 degrees to the rounded apex; anthers 0.55-0.75 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Fruit: "Pod relatively small, stipe 6-8 mm. long, the body usually very strongly incurved so as to bring the beak pointing in toward the raceme-axis, the body 1.5-2.5 cm. long, 8-12 mm. in diameter, not or scarcely inflated, the valves fleshy becoming stiffly leathery or subligneous, shallowly sulcate ventrally in the lower half, the thick, prominent ventral suture there depressed and lying in an open groove, the dorsal face flattened and carinate by the salient, but more slender, undulate suture; septum up to 1.8 mm. wide." (bibref: 1813).
Bloom Information
Bloom Color: Red , Purple , VioletBloom Time: Apr , May
Bloom Notes: "Petals reddish-purple with white or lilac wing-tips and a pale, striate lozenge in the banner, drying violet." (bibref: 1813).
Distribution
USA: CA , NVNative Distribution: "Very local but forming colonies, known only from the New York Mountains, the Mid Hills, and the northern end of the Providence Mountains, eastern San Bernardino County, California." (bibref: 1813).
Native Habitat: "Mesas and stony hillsides, in stiff, calcareous clay soils, commonly among or sheltering under sagebrush, 4700-6000 feet." (bibref: 1813).
Bibliography
Bibref 1813 - Atlas of North American Astragalus (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.Search More Titles in Bibliography
Additional resources
USDA: Find Astragalus cimae var. cimae in USDA PlantsFNA: Find Astragalus cimae var. cimae in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus cimae var. cimae
Metadata
Record Modified: 2020-12-07Research By: Joseph A. Marcus