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Astragalus cimae var. sufflatus
Astragalus cimae M.E. Jones var. sufflatus Barneby
Cima Milkvetch
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonym(s):
USDA Symbol: ASCIS
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 stipitate, inflated, fully bilocular pod of A. c. var. sufflatus, presumably derived from the thick-textured, solid one of A. c. var. cimae, is similar in outline and structure to that of A. (Hesperonix) Bolanderi, a species of middle elevations in the Sierra Nevada, which is distinguished by its connate stipules and many other characters. The resemblance in the fruit alone is no doubt coincidental. In the fresh state, the pod of A. c. var. sufflatus is glaucescent like the foliage but minutely red-dotted on a greenish ground; in ripening, it turns straw-color with reddish cheeks." (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 larger, stipe 5-12 mm. long, the body varying from nearly straight to incurved through about 90 degrees to bring the beak erect in a plane parallel to the raceme-axis, (2) 3-3.7 cm. long, 1.3-2.1 cm. in diameter, the valves thin-textured and greatly inflated, becoming papery, openly sulcate along both sutures below the beak, the sutures both slender and not or little prominent; septum 2-3.5 mm. wide." (bibref: 1813).
Bloom Information
Bloom Color: Red , Purple , VioletBloom Time: Apr , May , Jun
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: CANative Distribution: "Very local, known only from the east slope of the Inyo Mountains about the south end of Saline Valley, Inyo County, California." (bibref: 1813).
Native Habitat: "Calcareous clay soil, on gentle slopes and flats among sagebrush, sometimes in open pinon-forest, 5000—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. sufflatus in USDA PlantsFNA: Find Astragalus cimae var. sufflatus in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus cimae var. sufflatus
Metadata
Record Modified: 2020-12-07Research By: Joseph A. Marcus