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Astragalus coltonii var. moabensis
Astragalus coltonii M.E. Jones var. moabensis M.E. Jones
Moab Milkvetch
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonym(s): Astragalus canovirens
USDA Symbol: ASCOM2
USDA Native Status: L48 (N)
"Commonly more robust and more leafy than A. c. var. Coltoni, the stems arising always from a buried, knotty, or shortly forking root-crown, the stems and herbage strigulose with hairs up to (0.4) 0.5-0.8 mm. long, cinereous, greenish- cinereous or canescent, the leaflets often bicolored, brighter green and usually less densely pubescent above than beneath." (bibref: 1813).
"The Moab milk-vetch is distinguished from A. c. var. Coltoni, with exceptions briefly mentioned in the introductory paragraphs, by its coarser, more leafy stems which rise farther from the ground before producing the first peduncle. And it seems to be adapted to less xerophytic microhabitats. The Four Corners country offers extensive areas of badlands and desertic talus where A. c. var. Coltoni might be expected to find a congenial home, but these situations are shunned by A. c. var. moabensis in favor of brushy slopes and sagebrush flats where the soil is richer and better watered.." (bibref: 1813).
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Plant Characteristics
Duration: PerennialHabit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems arising from a subterranean root-crown (as typical of the section) or rarely (in A. c. var. Coltoni) from divisions of an aerial, eventually suffruticulose caudex, usually several or numerous, erect and ascending in clumps, 1-4 dm. lo
Leaf: "Leaves (2) 3-9 cm. long, shortly petioled or the upper ones subsessile, with (5) 9-17 (19) oblong, cuneate-oblong, or a few ovate and flat, or in some upper leaves linear-oblong or -oblanceolate and involute, obtuse, truncate, or retuse leaflets (3) 5-20 mm. long, the terminal one nearly always jointed like the rest, the joint obscure (lacking) only in a few upper leaves." (bibref: 1813).
Flower: "Peduncles erect or strictly incurved-ascending, (4) 6.5-21 cm. long, the lowest 1-2 usually much longer and stouter than the rest and far surpassing the leaves, the racemes mostly projected well beyond the leafy part of the plant; racemes loosely (6) 10-30-flowered, the axis elongating, (1.5) 3-16 cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous, ovate or lanceolate, 0.5-3.2 mm. long; pedicels at first ascending, 0.8-1.5 mm. long, early arched outward or decurved, sometimes horizontally spreading, in fruit thickened, 1-2.5 mm. long; bracteoles 0, rarely a minute scale; calyx 4.5-8 mm. long, densely to quite thinly black-strigulose, the oblique disc 0.9-1.5 (1.8) mm. deep, the membranous, purplish, deeply campanulate or cylindric tube 4-6.7 mm. long, 2.3-3.7 mm. in diameter, the deltoid, triangular, or broadly subulate, often obtuse teeth 0.6-1.8 (2.3) mm. long, the ventral pair commonly shortest, the orifice strongly or little oblique; petals bright pink-purple, drying bluish, the wing-tips often paler; banner broadly rhombic-elliptic, -obovate, or broadly spatulate, notched or scarcely emarginate, 12-18.5 mm. long, (6) 6.5-12.5 mm. wide; wings as long or a little shorter, 11-18.3 mm. long, the claws 5.3-7.8 mm., the narrowly lanceolate, oblong-elliptic, or -oblanceolate, obtuse, subtruncate, or obliquely emarginate, straight or slightly incurved blades 8.6-11.8 mm. long, 2.3 3.5 mm. wide; keel 9-13 mm. long, the claws 4.9-7.4 mm., the half-obovate or lunately half-elliptic blades 4.6-6.6 mm. long, 2.3-3.5 mm. wide, incurved through 85-95 degrees to the triangular-deltoid, sometimes slightly porrect and subacute apex; anthers (0.55) 0.6-0.9 (1) mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Fruit: "Pod pendulous, stipitate, the slender stipe 5-11 mm. long, the body oblong, linear-oblong, or -oblanceolate, 1.9-3.5 cm. long, (3) 3.5-6 mm. in diameter, straight or gently decurved, narrowly cuneate at base or tapering gradually downward into the stipe, cuneate-cuspidate at apex, strongly compressed laterally and 2-sided, bicarinate by the subfiliform but salient sutures, the faces low-convex, the somewhat fleshy, green or reddish, glabrous valves becoming stiffly papery, stramineous, almost smooth to faintly rugulose and cross-reticulate; ovules 14-20; seeds brown or olivaceous, sometimes purple- speckled, sparsely punctate, sublustrous, (2.9) 3.2-4.4 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Bloom Information
Bloom Color: Pink , Blue , PurpleBloom Time: Apr , May , Jun
Bloom Notes: "Petals bright pink-purple, drying bluish." (bibref: 1813).
Distribution
USA: AZ , CO , NM , UT , WYNative Distribution: "Locally abundant in the foothills and on the lower slopes of the La Sal and Abajo Mountains in southeastern Utah and adjoining Colorado, extending more rarely south across the San Juan River to extreme northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona; in the Moab region intergradient to A. c. var. Coltoni." (bibref: 1813).
Native Habitat: "Dry hills, mesas and canyon terraces, commonly in juniper-piņon woodland, often associated with sagebrush, in sandy or gravelly soils derived from sandstone or in the valleys in rich alluvial clays, 4800-7000 (7500) 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 coltonii var. moabensis in USDA PlantsFNA: Find Astragalus coltonii var. moabensis in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus coltonii var. moabensis
Metadata
Record Modified: 2020-12-07Research By: Joseph A. Marcus