Plants dwarf, tuft- or depressed mat-forming, to 1–2 dm diam., shortly caulescent, 1–8 cm, villous-tomentose, hairs basi­fixed; from superficial caudex. Stems prostrate, internodes mostly concealed by stipules, villous-tomentose. Leaves 1.5–4.5(–6.5) cm; stipules 2–6 mm, membranous; leaf­lets 7–11(or 13), blades usually obovate-cuneate, rarely elliptic, 2–7(–9) mm, apex obtuse or acute, surfaces villous-tomentose. Peduncles decumbent in fruit, 0.3–3(–4.5) cm. Racemes 3–8-flowered, flowers ascending; axis 0.3–1.6 cm in fruit; bracts 2–4 mm; bracteoles 0. Pedicels 1–2.5 mm. Flowers (11–)11.5–13.3 mm; calyx cylindric or deeply campanulate, 7.5–8.9 mm, white-villous, tube 5.3–6.4 mm, lobes subulate, 1.4–2.5(–3) mm; corolla whitish, keel tip pink or purple; ban­ner recurved through 40°; keel 9.5–10.7 mm. Legumes ascending (humistrate), brownish stramineous, in­curved, obliquely ovoid, obcompressed, 8–15 × 4.5–6.5 mm, unilocular, fleshy becoming stiffly papery, villous-tomentulose, hairs to 1 mm. Seeds 11–14.

Phenology: Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat: Open slopes and gravelly or sandy flats among sagebrush.
Elevation: 2400–2600 m.

Distribution

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Calif.

Discussion

Astragalus subvestitus is known from two small areas on the western slope of the southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare and Kern counties. R. C. Barneby (1964) pro­posed that A. subvestitus and A. leucolobus each were derived from a different variety of A. purshii (vars. lectulus and tinctus, respectively).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.