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Astragalus shortianus (Short's milkvetch)
Bransford, W.D. and Dolphia

Astragalus shortianus

Astragalus shortianus Nutt.

Short's Milkvetch

Fabaceae (Pea Family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: ASSH3

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

"Low, tufted, often quite amply leafy, essentially acaulescent, with knotty root-crown or shortly forking caudex, densely silky-strigulose or -strigose with fine, appressed or some narrowly ascending, straight or nearly straight hairs up to 0.75-1.25 mm. long, the calyx villous, the herbage silvery or rarely greenish, the leaflets common1y equally pubescent on both sides, sometimes more thinly so above; stems nearly always reduced to sessile crowns, exceptionally up to 2.5 cm. long, but the internodes all concealed by stipu1es; stipules thinly herbaceous becoming papery and brownish, several-nerved, lanceolate, lance-oblong, or -acuminate, the lowest sometimes ovate, (3) 5-12 mm. long, decurrent-amplexicaul around ½ to the whole stem's circumference, free; leaves (4) 6-21 cm. long, with rather stiff, grooved petiole and 7-17 (19) obovate, rhombic-obovate, elliptic-ovate, rarely flabellate, obtuse, or rarely subacute, flat or loosely folded leaflets 5-20 (25) mm. long; peduncles usually stout, 2-15 cm. long, shorter (except at earliest anthesis) than the leaves, arcuate-procumbent or prostrate in fruit; racemes shortly but loosely (5) 7-16-flowered, the axis little elongating, 1-4 (6) cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous with green midrib, linear-lanceolate or -caudate, 4-10 mm. long; pedicels at anthesis slender, 1.6-2.8 mm. long, in fruit ascending or arched outward, thickened, (2) 3-4 mm. long; bracteoles usually 0, rarely 2, exceptionally conspicuous; calyx (9.4) 11-14.7 long, villous with loosely ascending or spreading hairs over 1 mm. long, the oblique disc 1.4-2 mm. deep, the membranous, usually purplish, cylindric or deeply campanulate tube (6.5) 7.6-9.8 mm. long, 3.6-4.8 mm. in diameter, the lance-subulate teeth 2.9-5.6 mm. long, the ventral pair commonly broader and often a trifle longer than the rest; petals pink-purple with pale claws and a pale lozenge in the fold of the banner; banner gently recurved through ± 40°, broadly spatulate to ovate-cuneate, (16) 19-22 mm. long, 7.5-11 mm. wide; wings nearly as long, (15) 17.2-20.1 mm. long, the claws (7.7) 8.6-10.3 mm., the lance-oblong, ob­tuse or truncate-emarginate blades (8.2) 9-11.6 mm. long, 2.8-3.9 mm. wide, slightly incurved in the distal half; keel (13) 15.5-17.2 mm. long, the claws (8) 9.3-10.3 mm., the half-obovate blades 6-7.7 mm. long, 3.2-4.2 mm. wide, rather abruptly incurved through 85-95° to the bluntly deltoid apex; anthers 0.55-0.85 (0.9) mm. long; pod ascending (humistrate) obliquely ovoid or ellipsoid, (2) 2.5-4.5 cm. long, (8) 9-18 mm. in diameter, rounded or sometimes obtusely cuneate at the base, obcompressed and nearly straight in the lower 2/3 thence passing upward into a strongly incurved, deltoid- or lance-acuminate, laterally compressed, rigid beak, shallowly depressed-sulcate along both sutures or merely flattened dorsally, the sutures both (but the ventral especially) prominent and cordlike, the green, fleshy, rather densely strigulose valves becoming woody or very stiffly leathery, brown, stramineous, or ultimately blackish, rugulose-reticulate, commonly not inflexed, but sometimes obscurely so, the septum forming a tubular cavity behind the ventral suture and extending inward ± the depth of the valve-wall, this 0.6--1.2 mm. thick when ripe; dehiscence apical, through the beak, tardy; ovules 33-54 (66); seeds brown or purplish-brown, pitted or wrinkled, (2) 2.6--3 mm. long." (bibref: 1813).

"Populations of this species are widespread and locally abundant from north-central New Mexico into eastern Colorado and into Wyoming.". (webref: 50).

 

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Herb
Leaf Retention: Deciduous
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Leaf Complexity: Pinnate
Inflorescence: Raceme
Fruit Type: Legume

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: White , Pink , Purple
Bloom Time: Apr , May , Jun , Jul
Bloom Notes: "May to July." (bibref: 1813).

Distribution

USA: CO , NE , NM , WY
Native Distribution: "(F)requent and locally plentiful on the east slope and piedmont of the Rocky Mountains drained by the North Platte, South Platte, and Arkansas Rivers in southeastern Wyoming and Colorado, extending more rarely across the Divide in Colorado to the upper Grand River, south to the head of the Canadian River and the upper Rio Grande in northern New Mexico, and northwest to the Wind and Big Horn Rivers in westcentral Wyoming; an old report from the Black Hills (Geyer) requires confirmation; records from western Colorado (other than in Eagle and Grand Counties) were based on collections of A. iodopetalus." (bibref: 1813).
Native Habitat: "Prairies, dry hilltops, open stony ridges, or cobblestone bluffs, commonly on decomposed granite, occasionally on sandstone, coarse alluvia of mixed origins, and perhaps other bedrock, 5200-9000 feet." (bibref: 1813).

Bibliography

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

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Web Reference

Webref 50 - New Mexico Rare Plants (2020) New Mexico Rare Plant Technical Council

Additional resources

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

Metadata

Record Modified: 2022-10-04
Research By: TWC Staff

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