Astragalus aequalis
Madroño 6: 215, plate 27, figs. a–j. 1942.
Plants slender, 20–50(–65) cm, gray-strigulose; from shallow, subterranean, thickened and woody caudex. Stems diffuse or ascending, (0–)1–4 cm underground, gray-strigulose. Leaves sparse, 2.5–9 cm; stipules distinct throughout, 1.5–4.5 mm, papery-membranous at proximal nodes, herbaceous at distal nodes; leaflets 9–15, blades linear-lanceolate or -oblanceolate, 5–20(–27) mm, apex rounded to retuse, surfaces strigose; terminal leaflet usually longer than adjacent pair. Peduncles incurved-ascending, 3–9 cm. Racemes 3–12-flowered, flowers ascending-spreading; axis 1–6 cm in fruit; bracts 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles 0–2. Pedicels 1–3 mm. Flowers 11.5–12 mm; calyx campanulate, 5.5–6.8 mm, strigose, tube 3.5–4.5 mm, lobes subulate or triangular, 2–2.7 mm; corolla ochroleucous, often tinged or lined with purple; banner recurved through 90°; keel 9.2–10.4 mm, apex slightly beaked. Legumes spreading or declined, stramineous or brownish with purple spots, straight, broadly and subsymmetrically ellipsoid, ovoid, or obovoid-ellipsoid, terete or somewhat dorsiventrally compressed, bladdery-inflated, 25–40 × 12–20 mm, papery, strigose; stipe 0.7–1.5 mm. Seeds 26–33.
Phenology: Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat: Sagebrush and pinyon-juniper communities upward to ponderosa pine forests.
Elevation: 1800–2500 m.
Discussion
Astragalus aequalis is known only from the Spring (Charleston) Mountains in Clark County. The impressive bladdery-inflated fruits easily distinguish it from its relatives in subsect. Aequales (A. atwoodii, A. pinonis).
Selected References
None.