Native Plants
Plant Database
Search for native plants by scientific name, common name or family. If you are not sure what you are looking for, try the Combination Search or our Recommended Species lists.
Astragalus crassicarpus var. cavus
Astragalus crassicarpus Nutt. var. cavus Barneby
Groundplum Milkvetch, Hollow Groundplum
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonym(s):
USDA Symbol: ASCRC
USDA Native Status: L48 (N)
"Resembling A. c. var. Paysoni in appearance, the stems decumbent and ascending, 5-30 cm. long, or sometimes short and closely tufted at anthesis, elongating only as the fruit ripens; herbage pallid or yellowish-green, strigulose, the hairs up to 0.3-0.6 mm. long, the leaflets glabrous above, the inflorescence strigulose or pilosulous with black or mixed black and white hairs of about the same length." (bibref: 1814).
"Native to a region where the spring months are extremely dry, but it has retained the early-flowering habit of the other ground-plums and consequently is subjected to most unfavorable conditions at anthesis. As might be expected, flowering specimens are often of dwarf stature, the lower peduncles sometimes appearing subradical, but the stems elongate after the fruit is set and sometimes reach a length of 3 dm. as early as mid-May." (bibref: 1814).
From the Image Gallery
No images of this plant
Plant Characteristics
Duration: PerennialHabit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems decumbent and ascending, 5-30 cm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Leaf: "Leaves (4) 5-15 cm. long, with (13) 17-31 (33) broadly to narrowly elliptic, oval, oblong-oblanceolate, or (in some lower leaves) obovate, obtuse or subacute, sometimes callous-mucronulate leaflets (2) 4-17 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Flower: "Peduncles 2-9 (11) cm. long; racemes 10-23(30)-flowered, the axis (1) 1.5-7 (9) cm. long in fruit; pedicels 2-4 mm. long in fruit; calyx (8.6) 9.6-12.6 mm. long, the tube (6.3) 7.5-9.2 mm. long, 3.8-4.5 mm. in diameter, the teeth (1.9) 2.3-3.6 mm. long; petals whitish, the keel-tip and sometimes the base of the wing-blades, rarely also the base of the banner, faintly lilac-tinged; banner 17-25 mm. long, (8.2) 9-14 mm. wide; wings 14.4-20.3 mm. long, the claws (6.6) 7-10.4 mm., the blades 8.7-12.7 mm. long, 2.6-3.8 mm. wide; keel (12.8) 13.2-17.3 mm. long, the claws (6.7) 7-11 mm., the blades (6.7) 7-8.5 mm. long, 3.2-3.8 mm. wide; anthers (0.65) 0.7-0.9 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Fruit: "Pod broadly and plumply oblong- ovoid, -obovoid, or subglobose, 1.5-3.5 (4) cm. long, 1.2-2.5 cm. in diameter, the valve-walls 1.2-2 mm. thick, the septum 0.8-2 cm. wide; ovules 38-51, averaging about 44. The fruit ripe in late summer and fall." (bibref: 1814).
Bloom Information
Bloom Color: White , Purple , VioletBloom Time: May , Jun , Jul
Bloom Notes: "Petals whitish, the keel-tip and sometimes the base of the wing-blades, rarely also the base of the banner, faintly lilac-tinged." (bibref: 1814).
Distribution
USA: AZ , NMNative Distribution: "Locally plentiful in scattered stations from the Pecos-Rio Grande Divide in central and southcentral New Mexico west to the north slope of the White Mountains and plains adjacent to the north in eastcentral Arizona." (bibref: 1814).
Native Habitat: "Arid sandy plains, dry stony meadows, gravelly banks, and canyon benches, on granitic and various alluvial soils, mostly in grassland or juniper-piņon forest between 5800 and 7600 feet, descending to the floor of the Rio Grande Valley where associated with Larrea at 4900 feet." (bibref: 1814).
Bibliography
Bibref 1814 - Atlas of North American Astragalus Volume 2 (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.Search More Titles in Bibliography
Additional resources
USDA: Find Astragalus crassicarpus var. cavus in USDA PlantsFNA: Find Astragalus crassicarpus var. cavus in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus crassicarpus var. cavus
Metadata
Record Modified: 2020-12-07Research By: Joseph A. Marcus