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Astragalus desperatus var. conspectus

Astragalus desperatus M.E. Jones var. conspectus Barneby

Rimrock Milkvetch

Fabaceae (Pea family)

Synonym(s): Astragalus barnebyi

USDA Symbol: ASDEC

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

"Perennial, acaulescent or subacaulescent, 1.5-5 cm tall, from a branching caudex; pubescence basifixed; stems 0-5 cm long, mostly obscured by stipules; stipules 2-7 mm long, at least some connate-sheathing; leaves 1.5-5 cm long; leaflets 7-17, 3-9 mm long, 0.9-3.2 mm wide, elliptic to oblanceolate, acute to obtuse, strigose on both sides; peduncles 0.5-5.2 cm long; racemes 2- to 8-flowered, the flowers ascending at anthesis, 0.5-2.5 cm long in fruit; bracts 2-4 mm long; pedicels 0.5-1.5 mm long; calyx 6.1-7.7 (8.4) mm long, the tube 5.2-6.5 mm long; short-cylindric, pilose with mixed black and white hairs, the teeth 0.9-1.7 mm long, subulate; flowers 12.2-15 mm long, pink-purple or bicolored; pods declined, sessile or short-stipitate, ovoid-ellipsoid, curved, 12-19 mm long, 5-6 mm thick, subunilocular, long silky-pilose; ovules ca. 20." (reslit: 2894, as A. barnebyi).

"The Barneby milkvetch is a near congener of A. desperatus, q.v., from which it differs in the larger size of flowers and parts, and in the usually more compact habit of growth." (reslit: 2894, as A. barnebyi). "The var. conspectus may be recognized by its shortly racemose flowers, which are not only longer but proportionately narrower than in var. desperatus, by the cylindric calyx-tube, and uniformly pink-purple petals. At anthesis it might easily be taken for some member of sect. Argophylli, but the papery-membranous texture of the pod would be anomalous and the comparatively few ovules unusual in that section. The known stations of the variety, in two of which only about a dozen plants were seen, lie widely distant from each other, and further collections will be awaited with interest." (bibref: 1813).