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Astragalus curvicarpus var. curvicarpus

Astragalus curvicarpus (A. Heller) J.F. Macbr. var. curvicarpus

Curvepod Milkvetch

Fabaceae (Pea family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: ASCUC

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

"Usually stout, less often low and slender, the stems 1.5-4 dm. long; herbage loosely strigulose to villosulous with incurved, curly, or spreading hairs up to 0.250.5 mm. long, usually densely so, cinereous or sometimes greenish, the leaflets always, even if only thinly, pubescent above." (bibref: 1813).

"The sickle milk-vetch, A. curvicarpus, is a coarse but rather handsome astragalus, readily recognized by its nearly always broad truncate or retuse leaflets, nodding white to lemon- yellow flowers with basally pouched calyx, and stipitate, laterally flattened, usually much- incurved pods. Over the greater part of its range in the Great Basin it varies little; however, along the streams flowing north to the Columbia River in northcentral Oregon, it has given rise to two usually well-differentiated but marginally intergradient geographic races, differing in details of the vesture and flowers." (bibref: 1813).

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Herb
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "The stems 1.5-4 dm. long." (bibref: 1813).
Flower: "Calyx (7.9) 9.1-11.2 mm. long, the disc 1-1.4 mm. deep, the tube (6.9) 7.5-9.7 mm., long, (3.2) 3.9-4.8 mm. in diameter, the teeth (0.5) 1-2.3 mm. long; banner (15) 16.4-21 mm. long, the well-developed blade (5.6) 6-10.2 mm. wide, recurved through about 45 degrees; wings (14) 15-20.6 mm. long, the claws 7.6-10.7 mm., the blades 7-11.2 mm. long, 2.4-3.4 mm. wide; keel (11) 11.7-15.2 mm. long, the claws (7.4) 7.8-9.6 mm., the blades 4.9-6.2 mm. long, 2.7-3.3 mm. wide." (bibref: 1813).
Fruit: "Stipe of the pod (9) 11-20 mm. long, the body 2-3.5 cm. long, (2.7) 3-4.1 (5.5) mm. in diameter, hamately incurved or coiled into a ring, villosulous or incumbent-strigulose, exceptionally glabrate in age, very rarely glabrous; ovules 18-25 (28); seeds 2.9-3.8 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: White , Yellow
Bloom Time: Apr , May , Jun , Jul
Bloom Notes: "Petals ochroleucous, clear white, or lemon-yellow." (bibref: 1813).

Distribution

USA: CA , ID , NV , OR
Native Distribution: "From Honey Lake and the upper Klamath Basin in northern California eastward across transmontane Oregon to the Snake River Plains in southwestern Idaho, south across northern and westcentral Nevada, especially in the Humboldt and Reese River Valleys, to the east slope of the Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California, there ascending along the Walker River to 9200 feet." (bibref: 1813).
Native Habitat: "Sagebrush plains and foothills, in loose sandy or gravelly soils overlying basalt or granitic formations, sometimes forming extensive colonies on stabilized dunes, widespread and locally plentiful at (2750) 3100�6200 feet." (bibref: 1813).

Bibliography

Bibref 1813 - Atlas of North American Astragalus (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.

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Additional resources

USDA: Find Astragalus curvicarpus var. curvicarpus in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Astragalus curvicarpus var. curvicarpus in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Astragalus curvicarpus var. curvicarpus

Metadata

Record Modified: 2020-12-07
Research By: Joseph A. Marcus

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