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Astragalus desereticus

Astragalus desereticus Barneby

Deseret Milkvetch

Fabaceae (Pea family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: ASDE2

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

"Loosely tufted, shortly caulescent, with a suffruticulose caudex and annual stems up to 2—5 cm. long, densely villosulous and hirsute with fine, contorted, together with longer, straightish, ascending hairs up to 1 mm. long, the herbage silvery, the leaflets equally pubescent on both sides; stipules submembranous becoming papery, broadly deltoid-acuminate to lanceolate, 3.5-7 mm. long, semiamplexicaul; leaves 4—11 cm. long, with slender petioles and (7) 11-17 elliptic to broadly obovate and abruptly short-acuminate, flat leaflets 2-10 mm. long; peduncles 2-5.5 cm. long, decumbent and humistrate in fruit; racemes loosely but very shortly 5-10-flowered, the flowers ascending, the axis little elongating, 0.5-2 cm. long in fruit; bracts lance-acuminate or -caudate, 3-6 mm. long- pedicels ascending, at anthesis ± 2 mm., in fruit little thickened, 2-3 mm. long; disjointing in age; bracteoles 0-2; calyx 8.4-11.5 mm. long, thinly white-villous- hirsutulous, the scarcely oblique disc 1-1.3 mm. deep, the cylindric or deeply campanulate tube 6.2-7.5 mm. long, 3-3.7 mm. in diameter, the subulate teeth 2-4 mm. long; petals apparently whitish except for the faintly maculate keel-tip; banner recurved through ± 40°, rhombic-oblanceolate, deeply notched, 18-22.5 mm. long, 6.8-9.5 mm. wide; wings 16-18.6 mm. long, the claws 7.5-7.8 mm., the narrowly lanceolate, obtuse, nearly straight blades 9.6-12 mm. long, 2.2-2.5 mm. wide, keel 12—13.3 mm. long, the claws 7.4—7.8 mm., the half-obovate blades 5.2-6.2 mm. long, 2.4-3 mm. wide, gently incurved through 80° to the rounded apex; anthers 0.6-0.7 mm. long; pod ascending (humistrate), sessile on a glabrous, stipelike gynophore up to 0.9 mm. long, similar to that of A. Purshii or A. marianus but very small, 1—1.2 cm. long, 4—5 mm. in diameter, strongly incurved near the middle, densely hirsute with lustrous hairs up to 2-2.5 mm. long; dehiscence and seeds not seen; ovules 14—16." (bibref: 1813).

"Deseret milkvetch was considered extinct for decades until its rediscovery in 1981. It is known from a single population in Utah County, Utah. Deseret milkvetch was listed in 1999 by the Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened (USDI-FWS, 1999). In 2007, the Fish and Wildlife Service gave advanced notice of intention to remove Deseret milkvetch from the list of endangered and threatened plants in the near future (USDI-FWS, 2007). It was determined that previous threats were not as significant as once believed, and that the species is not likely to become in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range in the foreseeable future. Surveys conducted in 2006 indicated that the known population had increased by 31 percent since the time of listing (USDI-FWS, 2007)." (webref: 176).