Astragalus Cusickii var. flexilipes

Title

Astragalus Cusickii var. flexilipes

Authors

Rupert C. Barneby

Scientific Name

Astragalus cusickii var. flexilipes Barneby

Description

86b. Astragalus Cusickii var. flexilipes

Usually taller and more slender than var. Cusickii; stipules at base of all but the slenderest stems connate in vernation only, early ruptured, later appearing as a low, imperfectly amplexicaul collar, the median and upper ones nearly always free from the first; racemes (3) 6—14 (18)-flowered, the axis 2.5-8.5 cm. long in fruit; calyx-tube 3.2-4.4 mm. long, 2.3-2.8 mm. in diameter, the disc 0.71 mm. deep; petals commonly pale purple, purplish-tinged, or at least with maculate keel-tip, exceptionally all white; banner mostly ovate-cuneate, 12.5-15.5 mm. long; keel 8-10 mm. long; stipe of the pod (4) 5-8 mm. long, the body 2-3 (3.5) cm. long, the delicately membranous valves often faintly mottled; ovules 10-16.—Collections: 17 (ii); representative: M. & G. Owenby 2754 (CAS, NY, RSA, SMU, WS); Christ & Ward 7287, 7694 (ID, NY); Christ 15,887, 16,589 (ID, NY); W. H. Baker 11,952 (ID, RSA).

Habitats of var. Cusickii, 1200-1800 feet, locally abundant in the canyon of the lower Salmon River in Idaho County, Idaho, ascending the Little Salmon River just into northern Adams County.—Map No. 31.—May to July.

Astragalus Cusicku var. flexilipes (with pliant stipe) Barneby in Amer. Midl. Nat. 55 : 485. 1956.—"Idaho. Little Salmon River canyon, 3 miles north of Pollock, Idaho Co., 14 June, 1951, Ripley & Barneby No. 10709 ... "—Holotypus, CAS! isotypi, NY, WS!