Astragalus praelongus var. praelongus

  • Title

    Astragalus praelongus var. praelongus

  • Authors

    Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Astragalus praelongus E.Sheld. var. praelongus

  • Description

    184a. Astragalus praelongus var. praelongus

    Calyx-teeth variable in length, deltoid to lance-subulate, 0.3-4.7 mm. long; pod 2—3.8 (4.2) cm. long, (9) 10—15 mm. in diameter, either sessile or abruptly contracted at base into an obconic stipe or stipelike neck up to 2.5 mm. long, either truncate or rounded, or broadly turbinate at base, broadest below, at, or above the middle, subsymmetric or decidly asymmetric in profile, if the latter then the dorsal suture the more strongly convex, the valves either glabrous or puberulent.—Collections: 64 (xiii); representative: F. W. Gould 1617 (CAS, NY, WS); M. Ownbey 3011 (CAS, NY, RSA, WS); Barneby 12,656 (CAS,’NY, RSA), 12,980 (RSA); Ripley & Barneby 7570 (CAS, RSA), 8364 (RSA); Castetter & Dittmer 6022 (herb. Univ. New Mex.).

    Gullied bluffs, sandstone escarpments, clay knolls, and sandy or sandy clay plains and bottomlands, in selenium-rich soils derived from sandstone, shale, or more rarely limestone or volcanic tuff, 2750-7100 feet, widespread and locally common from the Muddy and Virgin Valleys in southeastern Nevada and southwestern Utah, south to the Grand Canyon and the upper Verde Valley in Arizona, thence east across Arizona north of the Mogollon Escarpment to the headwaters of the San Juan River in southwestern Colorado, and south in New Mexico west of the Rio Grande to the head of the Gila River in Grant County.—Map No. 73.—April to July, the fruit often persisting over winter on withered stems.

    Astragalus praelongus (very tall) Sheld. in Minn. Bot. Stud. 1: 23. 1894, a legitimate substitute for A. procerus (tall) Gray in Proc. Amer. Acad. 13: 369. 1878 (non A. procerus Bss. & Hsskn., 1872).—"Near St Thomas, S. E. Nevada, at the confluence of the Muddy River with the Virgen, Dr. Palmer, 1877."_Holo.ypus, Palmer 112 in 1877, GH! isotypi, K, NY, P, US!—A. Pattersoni var. procerus (Gray) Jones in Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. II, 5: 636. 1895. A. Pattersoni var. praelongus (Sheld.) Jones, Contrib. West Bot 10: 65. 1902. Phacopsis praelongus (Sheld.) Rydb. in Bull. Torr. Club 32: 661. 1905. Rydbergiella praelonga (Sheld) Fedde & Sydow in Bot. Jahresb. 331: 534. 1905. Jonesiella praelonga (Sheld.) Rydb. in N. Amer. Fl. 24: 404. 1929.

    Astragalus Rothrockii (Joseph Trimble Rothrock, 1839-1922, surgeon and botanist with Lieut. Wheeler’s Expedition, 1873-5) Sheld. in Minn. Bot. Stud. 1: 175. 1894.—"Collected in New Mexico, 1877, by Professor J. T. Rothrock; also at Wabash Ranch, eastern Arizona, July, 1892, by Professor E. O. Wooton."—Holotypus, collected by Rothrock in 1879, MINN!— Jonesiella Rothrockii (Sheld.) Rydb. in N. Amer. Fl. 24: 404. 1929.

    Jonesiella recedens (standing back from, hence different) Rydb. in N. Amer. Fl. 24: 403. 1929.—"Type collected at Arboles, Colorado, June 1899, Baker 432 ... "—Holotypus, collected by C. F. Baker, No. 422 (!), NY! isotypi, GH, K, MO, ND!—Astragalus recedens (Rydb.) C. L. Porter in Univ. Wyo. Pub. 16: 19. 1951.

    Jonesiella Mearnsii (Edgar Alexander Mearns, 1856-1916) Rydb. in N. Amer. Fl. 24: 403. 1929.—"Type collected at Fort Verde, Arizona, in May 1887, Edgar A. Mearns 163 ... " —Holotypus, NY!

    The principal types of variation I have observed in the flowers and fruits of the stinking milk-vetch, var. praelongus, have been discussed in an introductory note to the species and are implicit in the description and synonymy. A minor variant associated with normal plants on the badlands of the Virgin Valley in Washington County, Utah, has pinkish-lavender flowers.