Astragalus curtipes
Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 3: 103. 1864.
Plants clump-forming, caulescent, 25–60+ cm, strigulose and often minutely tomentulose; from superficial caudex. Stems erect or ascending, strigulose and often minutely tomentulose. Leaves (4–)5–16 cm; stipules connate-sheathing at proximal nodes, connate or distinct at distal nodes, 2–12 mm, papery-membranous; petiolate or subsessile; leaflets 25–39, blades linear-oblong to narrowly obovate, (2–)5–25 mm, apex obtuse or truncate-emarginate, surfaces strigulose abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Peduncles erect, (5.5–)7–25 cm. Racemes 15–35-flowered, flowers spreading becoming declined; axis 2–11 cm in fruit; bracts 1.4–3.7 mm; bracteoles 0 or 1. Pedicels 1–6 mm. Flowers 13–16 mm; calyx campanulate, 6–8.6 mm, densely strigulose, tube (3.7–)4–5 mm, lobes subulate or lanceolate, (1.5–)1.8–3.6 mm; corolla creamy white (concolorous), or keel tip faintly lilac; keel 10.7–12.7 mm. Legumes ascending, loosely spreading, or declined, stramineous, not bicarinate, obliquely obovoid or semi-obovoid-ellipsoid, bladdery-inflated, 23–36 × 12–18(–20) mm, thin becoming papery-membranous, translucent, lustrous, sparsely strigulose; gynophore 2.3–5.5(–6) mm. Seeds (26–)28–37.
Phenology: Flowering Feb–Jun.
Habitat: Grassy and brushy hillsides, rocky bluffs and fallow fields near the coast.
Elevation: 10–200 m.
Distribution
Calif.
Discussion
Astragalus curtipes is known from San Simeon Creek, San Luis Obispo County, to near Point Arguello in Santa Barbara County, and on San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands. Populations from the mainland nearly always have conspicuously whitened stems with dense pubescence of straight and curled hairs and uniformly white flowers, whereas the common phase on the islands is more sparsely pubescent and with a lilac keel apex. In San Benito County, there is a rarely collected phase with very large fruits, 4.5–7 cm.
Selected References
None.