Plant Database

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Herb , Subshrub
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
Fruit Type: Legume
Size Notes: "Stems commonly a little developed 0-4 (6) cm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Leaf: "Stipules submembranous, (2) 2.5-5 mm. long, ovate-triangular or broadly lanceolate, semi- or fully amplexicaul but none connate; leaves (1) 2-6.5 cm. long, with slender petiole and 7-15 obovate, oval, or elliptic-oblanceolate, mostly obtuse but sometimes subacute or obscurely emarginate flat or loosely folded, dorsally subcarinate leaflets 2-8 (11) mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Flower: "Peduncles slender but wiry, often long-persistent, 3-6.5 cm. long, at anthesis incurved-ascending, prostrate in fruit; racemes very shortly but rather loosely (3) 5-14-flowered, the flowers widely ascending or the lowest a trifle declined in age, the axis little elongating, 4-15 mm. long in fruit; bracts membranous, ovate or lance-ovate, 1.5-2.7 mm. long, pedicels at anthesis ascending, 0.7-1.3 mm long, in fruit arched outward, somewhat thickened, 1.2-1.6 mm. long, persistent; bracteoles 0; calyx 4.6-5.1 mm. long, strigulose with mixed black and white or sometimes all white hairs, the subsymmetric disc 0.5-0.9 mm. deep, the campanulate tube 3.5-3.9 mm. long, 2.3-2.5 mm. in diameter, the subulate teeth 1-1.6 mm. long; petals ochroleucous with indistinct, dull lilac veins, or the banner and wings distally tinged with dull lilac; banner abruptly recurved through 90-100 degrees, broadly ovate- or suborbicular-cuneate, shallowly notched, 7-8.3 mm. long, 5.4-7 mm. wide; wings slightly longer, 7.6-8.9 mm. long, the claws 3.5-4.3 mm., the oblong, obtuse blades 4.6-8.9 mm. long, 1.5-1.8 mm. wide, both gently incurved, the inner margin of both, or of the left one only, usually infolded; keel 6.9-7.8 mm. long, the claws 3.9-4.3 mm., the lunately half-circular blades 3.5-3.8 mm. long, 1.5-2.1 mm. wide, incurved through about 120 degrees to the subacute, triangular, minutely porrect apex; anthers 0.35-0.4 mm. long." (bibref: 1814).
Fruit: "Pod spreading or ascending (humistrate), long-persistent (often over winter) on the receptacle, plumply ovoid or oblong-ellipsoid, straight or nearly so, 9-18 mm. long, 4-7 (8) mm. in diameter, rounded at base, abruptly contracted distally into a stout cusp 1-2 mm. long, solid and subterete when first formed, becoming either a little laterally compressed and bicarinate by the prominent sutures, or somewhat flattened dorsally and then obscurely trigonous when ripe, the fleshy, green, smooth and lustrous, strigulose valves about 1.5 mm. thick when first formed, becoming leathery, brown or ultimately almost black, reticulate and rugulose, either not inflexed, or inflexed as a rudimentary septum up to 1.2 mm. wide; dehiscence apical, and ultimately downward through the length of the ventral suture, the valves curling backward and gaping to release the seeds; ovules 22-32; seeds not seen." (bibref: 1814).

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: Yellow , Purple , Violet
Bloom Time: May , Jun , Jul
Bloom Notes: "Petals ochroleucous with indistinct, dull lilac veins, or the banner and wings distally tinged with dull lilac." (bibref: 1814).

Distribution

USA: NM
Native Distribution: "Rare and local, known only from the north slope of the Zuni Mountains, McKinley County, New Mexico." (bibref: 1814).
Native Habitat: "Gravelly clay banks and knolls, in stiff, dry, alkaline soils derived from sandstone, ± 7500-7900 feet." (bibref: 1814).

Bibliography

Bibref 1814 - Atlas of North American Astragalus Volume 2 (1964) Barneby, Rupert C.

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Additional resources

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