Astragalus kentrophyta var. danaus (Barneby) Barneby
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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(1): 1-596.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
"California: Glacier Canyon, Mt. Dana, Mono County, J. T. Howell 20,256 ... "—Holotypus, CAS! isotypus, RSA!
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Synonyms
Astragalus tegetarius var. danaus Barneby
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Description
Variety Description - Densely matted or commonly mounded, the plants up to 15 cm. in diameter, the longest internodes not over 5 mm. long, the foliage rigid and prickly, the leaves and stems loosely strigulose with narrowly ascending hairs up to 0.35-0.55 mm. long, silvery or greenish-cinereous; stipules membranous or scarious, 2.5-5 mm. long, the blades of the upper ones acerose; leaves 4-15 (20) mm. long, all or all but a few lower ones palmately trifoliolate, the leaflets 3-7 mm. long, the vulnerant spinule (1) 1.5-2 mm. long; peduncles 2-6 mm. long; calyx 2.4-3.2 mm. long, the tube 1.6-1.9 mm. long, ±1.5 mm. in diameter, the teeth 0.8-1.3 mm. long; petals pale purple, or whitish with purple keel-tip; banner 4-5.6 mm. long, 3.2-4 mm. wide; wings 3.8-5 mm. long, the claws 1-1.6 mm., the blades 3-3.2 mm. long, ± 1.4 mm. wide; keel 3.3-4.1 mm. long, the claws 1.3-1.8 mm., the blades 2.4—2.6 mm. long, ±1.5 mm. wide; pod subsymmetrically lenticular, 3.5—5 mm. long, 2—2.5 mm. in diameter; ovules 5—8.
Distribution and Ecology - Open gravelly slopes and talus upward from timber line, perhaps descending rarely into bristle-cone pine forest, (10,000) 11,000-12,000 feet, on either granite or metamorphic bedrock, possibly sometimes on pumice, local along the crest and east summits of the Sierra Nevada in Mono County (Sweetwater Mountains; Dun- derberg Peak south to Mono Pass) and on the Fresno-Inyo County line at Sawmill Pass.—Map No. 37.—July to September.
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Discussion
Compared with var. implexus, as this occurs in the White Mountains on the opposite side of Owens Valley, the Sierra kentrophyta is a more rigid plant, the closely forking, basally indurated stems forming small, compact, prickly tufts or domed cushions rather than the prostrate mats of its common relative. The palmately trifoliolate leaves are characteristic, although some quinquefoliolate ones often occur low on each yearly segment of the gradually elongating caudex-branches. The var. danaus was first collected in 1863 near the summit of Mt. Dana by William H. Brewer (No. 1736, GH).
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Objects
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Distribution
California United States of America North America|