Astragalus lentiginosus var. semotus Jeps.
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Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. 1964. Atlas of North American Astragalus. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13(2): 597-1188.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
"White Mts., Inyo Co. ... Campito Mt., Jepson 7280 ..."—Holotypus, collected at 11,000 ft. on July 25, 1917, UC-JEPS!
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Description
Variety Description - Loosely tufted, the slender, closely leafy stems commonly all short, up to 1 dm. (or in transition to var. ineptus up to 2 dm.) long, the internodes only 3-12 (30) mm. long, the herbage greenish-cinereous, strigulose with subappressed hairs up to 0.35-0.5 mm. long, the leaflets thinly pubescent or glabrous above; leaves 4-9 cm. long, with (13) 17-27 rather distant, oblanceolate, oblong-oval, or -elliptic, obtuse or emarginate, nearly always folded leaflets 2-9 mm. long; peduncles very slender, 0.6—1.5 cm. long, the fruiting racemes often appearing subradical; racemes about 6—10-flowered, the fruiting axis 1—3 cm. long; calyx 5.2— 7.3 mm., the tube 3.6—5 mm. long, the subulate teeth 1.5—2.6 mm. long; petals whitish; banner 10.4—12 mm. long; wings 9.4—10.5 mm., the blades ± 6.5 mm. long; keel 7.7—8.5 mm., the blades 4.1—4.5 mm. long; pod ovoid-acuminate, bladdery-inflated, 1.1-2 (2.3) cm. long, 6-12 mm. in diameter, the incurved, unilocular beak 4—7 mm. long, the papery, mottled valves sparsely strigulose; ovules 13—15.
Distribution and Ecology - Dry sandy or gravelly flats and hillsides, among sagebrush and with Pinus aristata, 7000-11,250 feet, locally frequent in the White and Inyo Mountains, Inyo and Mono Counties, California, and Esmeralda County, Nevada. Map No. 128.—June to August.
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Discussion
The freckled milk-vetch of the White and Inyo Mountains, var. semotus, is very closely related to var. ineptus, which it replaces in the high desert ranges lying to Valley. The flowers and pods of the two forms are essentially identical; they differ principally in habit of growth, var. semotus having on the average shorter stems with leaves separated one from another by shorter internodes and composed of two or three more pairs of small leaflets which are disposed quite loosely along a much longer rachis. Typica1 var. ineptus has villosulous leaves, those of var. semotus are strigulose. Some specimens of var. semotus are however, quite strongly caulescent (e.g., Train 3940, NA, NY, with stems up to 1 or even 2 dm. long) while a form of var. ineptus in the Rock Creek drainage in Inyo County e.g., Peirson 9155, RSA) has relatively few but distant leaflets. The varieties are morphologically confluent.
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Objects
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Distribution
California United States of America North America| Nevada United States of America North America|