Plants annual or winter-annual, slender, (1.5–)4–30 cm, sparsely strigulose, hairs basifixed; tap­root slender. Stems erect or ascending, sparsely strigulose. Leaves (1.5–)2–6(–7.5) cm; stipules 1.5–4.5 mm, membra­nous becoming papery; leaflets 7–13, blades cuneate-obovate to oblong-elliptic, 3–10(–12) mm, apex retuse or obtuse, surfaces sparsely strigulose abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Peduncles erect or divaricate and ascending, (2–)3–9(–11) cm. Racemes densely 3–10-flowered, flowers ascending to spreading; axis to 0.5 cm, not or scarcely elongating; bracts 0.6–2 mm; bracteoles 0 or 1. Pedicels 0.4–1.4 mm. Flowers 7.8–11.4 mm; calyx 3.8–5.1 mm, strigulose, tube 2.5–3.5 mm, lobes subulate, 1–2 mm; corolla whitish, banner and, sometimes, wings veined or suffused lilac, keel tip purple; banner recurved through 35–45°; keel (5–)5.4–7.8 mm, apex round. Legumes stellately ascending, green, straight, ovoid, ovoid-oblong, or fusiform, obscurely 3-sided compressed, falling before splitting, dehiscent on ground, 5.5–10 × (2.5–)2.8–4 mm, thinly fleshy becoming stiffly papery, apex acuminate-tapered or cuneately contracted into a straight, elongate-subulate, spinelike, glabrescent beak (3.5–)4–10 mm, densely silvery-strigulose; bearing seeds in proximal 1/2. Seeds 2–6. 2n = 22.

Phenology: Flowering late Mar–Jun.
Habitat: Grassy sites, chaparral.
Elevation: 50–700 m.

Distribution

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Calif.

Discussion

Astragalus breweri is a taxon of the North Coast Ranges from southeastern Mendocino County south­ward to Marin County. As A. Gray noted, the long-beaked, tightly-clustered fruits distinguish this from other annual species.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.