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Astragalus cobrensis var. maguirei
Astragalus cobrensis A. Gray var. maguirei Kearney
Chiricahua Mountains Milkvetch, Maguire's Milkvetch
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonym(s):
USDA Symbol: ASCOM
USDA Native Status: L48 (N)
"Low, slender perennial, with a woody taproot and loosely forking, subterranean caudex, thinly strigulose to densely hirsutulous, pubescence of the whole plant, but particularly of the stems, stiff and spreading, the herbage green or cinereous, the leaflets ± bicolored, pallid beneath, yellowish-green and either glabrous or thinly pubescent above; stems few or several, decumbent and weakly ascending, (4) 6—20 (25) cm. long, subterranean for a space of 1.5—10 (15) cm., simple or bearing 1 (2) branches just above soil-level, flexuous or zigzag distally." (bibref: 1813).
"Known only from the Chiricahua Mountains (Pinery and White Tail Canyons), Cochise County, Arizona." (bibref: 1813).
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Plant Characteristics
Duration: PerennialHabit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems few or several, decumbent and weakly ascending, (4) 6-20 (25) cm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Leaf: "Stipules 1.5-5 mm. long, those at the lowest, leafless nodes papery or early becoming so, connate into a low, loosely amplexicaul collar or shortly campanulate, bidentate sheath, the median and upper ones united through half their length or only at base, with triangular-lanceolate, thinly herbaceous, mostly erect blades; leaves 1.5- 8 (11) cm. long, shortly petioled or the uppermost subsessile, with (7) 11-19 (23) broadly obovate, obovate-cuneate, broadly oblong-elliptic, or suborbicular, retuse, flat leaflets (1.5) 3-12 (17) mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Flower: Peduncles slender, incurved- ascending, (1) 1.5-8.5 cm. long, equaling or a little shorter than the leaf; racemes loosely (4) 8-22 (33)-flowered, the flowers spreading and ultimately declined, the axis elongating, (1) 2-6 (7.5) cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous, purplish, ovate or ovate-acuminate, 1-2.2 mm. long; pedicels slender, at anthesis ascending or arched outward, 1-2 mm. long, in fruit more strongly arched or deflexed, 1.3-2.5 (3) mm. long, persistent; bracteoles 0; calyx 3.2-4.5 mm. long, loosely strigulose with black or fuscous, and often a few intermingled white hairs, the slightly oblique saucer- or top-shaped disc 0.4-0.8 mm. deep, the campanulate or turbinate-campanulate tube 2.2-21 mm. long, 1.6-2.2 mm. in diameter, the subulate teeth 1-1.8 mm. long, the whole becoming papery, a little distended but unruptured; petals whitish tinged with dull lilac; banner at full anthesis recurved through about 85 degrees, broadly obovate-cuneate, -flabellate, or rhombic-ovate, deeply and widely notched, 6.5-7.8 mm. long, 4.2-5.8 mm. wide; wings a trifle longer or shorter than the banner, 6.2-1.1 mm. long, the claws 1.9-2.6 mm., the triangular- obovate, or broadly and obliquely elliptic, obtuse but erose or minutely undulate blades 4.2-5.9 mm. long, 1.7-3 mm. wide, the left one slightly incurved, the right abruptly bent inward at a right angle with the claw and its inner margin infolded; keel 4.4-6 mm. long, the claws 1.9-2.7 mm., the half-obovate or -circular blades 2.5-3.8 mm. long, 1.7-2.3 mm. wide, abruptly incurved through 95-100 degrees to the blunt, or sharply deltoid and obscurely porrect apex; anthers 0.3-0.55 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Fruit: "Pod pendulous, subsessile, the obscure stipe no longer than the calycine disc and often subobsolete, the body oblong- or somewhat clavate-ellipsoid, (7) 9-15 mm. long, 3.5-6 (reportedly "7") mm. in diameter, straight or a trifle arched downward, cuneate at base, abruptly contracted at apex into a very short, triangular, cuspidate beak, obcompressed, with low-convex ventral face obtusely carinate by the thick suture, flattened or widely and openly sulcate dorsally, the greenish, strigulose or villosulous valves becoming papery, stramineous, delicately cross- reticulate, inflexed as a partial or nearly complete septum 0.8-1.3 mm. wide; dehiscence apical and downward through the length of the ventral suture, the valves tending to twist outward in age; ovules 10-13; seeds brown, pitted and rugulose but somewhat lustrous, 2.4-3 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Bloom Information
Bloom Color: White , Purple , VioletBloom Time: Mar , Apr , May
Bloom Notes: "Petals whitish tinged with dull lilac." (bibref: 1813). "Mid-March to May, sometimes sporadically in fall. (bibref: 1813).
Distribution
USA: AZ , NMNative Distribution: "Known only from the Chiricahua Mountains (Pinery and White Tail Canyons), Cochise County, Arizona." (bibref: 1813).
Native Habitat: "Habitats of "A. c. var. cobrensis." (bibref: 1813).
Bibliography
Bibref 1813 - Atlas of North American Astragalus (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.Search More Titles in Bibliography
Additional resources
USDA: Find Astragalus cobrensis var. maguirei in USDA PlantsFNA: Find Astragalus cobrensis var. maguirei in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus cobrensis var. maguirei
Metadata
Record Modified: 2020-12-07Research By: Joseph A. Marcus