Plants tuft-forming, acaulescent or subacaulescent, 6–25 cm, ashen-strigulose, hairs mal­pighian; branched caudex with thatch of marcescent leaf bases. Stems obscured by stipules and leaf bases. Leaves (1.5–)2.5–9 cm; stipules distinct, 4–9 mm, submembranous becoming papery; leaflets (7–)11–21(–25), blades elliptic, oblong-elliptic, or oblanceolate, (2–)3–12 mm, apex acute, obtuse, or emarginate, surfaces ashen-strigulose. Peduncles ±scapelike, incurved-ascending, (2.5–)3.5–15(–22) cm. Racemes densely 7–26-flowered, flowers in subcapitate cluster, ascending to spreading becoming declined proximally; axis slightly elongating to 0.5–2.5 cm in fruit; bracts 1.5–4 mm; bracteoles 0–2. Pedicels 0.6–1.6 mm. Flowers 6.2–10.4 mm; calyx cam­panulate, 3.7–6 mm, strigulose, tube 2.3–4 mm, lobes subulate, 1.3–2.7 mm; corolla pink to pink-purple, wing tips white, keel maculate; banner recurved through 45–50°; keel 4.3–6.8 mm, apex bluntly deltate, sometimes beaklike. Legumes in oblong or globose, headlike clusters, spreading and ascending, reddish-tinged becoming brownish, slightly incurved, obliquely-ovoid or oblong-ellipsoid, obscurely 3-sided and somewhat laterally compressed, 4.5–7.5 × 2–4.2 mm, fleshy and firm becoming stiffly papery or somewhat leathery, strigulose. Seeds 7–11. 2n = 22.

Phenology: Flowering (Apr–)May–Sep.
Habitat: Dry sites in xeric pon­derosa pine forests, pinyon-juniper woodlands.
Elevation: 1700–2700 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Ariz., N.Mex.

Discussion

Astragalus gilensis is reminiscent of the larger A. troglodytus in growth form and subcapitate inflo­rescences that remain compact in fruit, but the hairs of A. troglodytus are basifixed. It occurs in the Mogollon Mountain system in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico, with an outlying population in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.