Astragalus convallarius var. finitimus

Title

Astragalus convallarius var. finitimus

Authors

Rupert C. Barneby

Scientific Name

Astragalus convallarius var. finitimus Barneby

Description

50b. Astragalus convallarius var. finitimus

Habit, etc. of var. convallarius; flowers small, the banner ± 7.5 mm., wings 7.6-8.4 mm., keel 7.7-8.1 mm. long, the blades of the latter 4.1-4.5 mm. long, ± 2.4 mm. wide; pod narrowly oblong, straight, broader and shorter (as given in the key) than in var. convallarius, strongly flattened and obscurely torulose when ripe; ovules 18-26; seeds 2-2.6 mm. long.—Collections: 5 (iii); representative: Ripley & Barneby 3487, 6407 (RSA); L. C. Anderson 722 (UTC).

Gravelly and sandy clay hillsides, with sagebrush, piñon and juniper, on limestone, ± 6000-6500 feet, local and apparently rather rare, Highland Range, Lincoln County, Nevada, eats to the north foothills of the Pine Valley Mountains, Washington County, Utah.—Map No. 22.—May and June.

Astragalus convallarius var. finitimus (closely akin) Barneby in Leafl. West. Bot. 7: 192. 1954.—"Utah: 3 miles south of Enterprise, Washington Co., 11 June, 1942, Ripley & Barneby 4967 ... "—Holotypus, CAS! isotypus, RSA!

In view of the variability allowed to the pod of var. convallarius, the present variety must appear poorly characterized. The fruiting collections examined, all from a compact area lying shortly but disjunctly to the west of the Sevier Valley which marks the southernmost outpost of var. convallarius, are alike in the relatively short and broad pod and in the high ovule- number hardly to be expected in so small a fruit. In the outline and proportion of length to width the pod of var. finitimus resembles that of A. diversifolius, with which the typus was at first confused (Barneby, 1944, p. 148). The resemblance is coincidental, however, for var. finitimus has the xerophytic habits and greatly reduced foliage of A. convallarius.