Astragalus lentiginosus var. wilsonii
Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 139. 1945.
Plants perennial, 20–50 cm, herbage green or subglabrescent. Leaves (3.5–)6–16 cm; leaflets (11–)17–25, blades ovate, broadly elliptic, or oblong-obovate, (4–)6–20(–25) mm, apex obtuse to emarginate. Peduncles 2.5–7(–8) cm. Racemes shortly and loosely (7–)10–17(–22)-flowered; axis not elongating, 1.5–4(–13) cm in fruit. Flowers (14.2–)15–20 mm; calyx (7–)7.7–9.4 mm, tube (5.5–)5.7–7.7 mm, lobes 1.5–3 mm; corolla white or suffused or tipped pink or pink-purple. Legumes green or mottled becoming stramineous or brownish, narrowly lanceoloid-acuminate, scarcely to moderately inflated, (15–)20–35 × 3.8–7 mm, ± bilocular, stiffly papery, glabrous or puberulent; beak 5–10 mm, unilocular. Seeds (29–)32–41. 2n = 22.
Phenology: Flowering Feb–Jun.
Habitat: Ponderosa pine forests, oak and juniper communities on volcanic substrates.
Elevation: 900–2200 m.
Discussion
Variety wilsonii occurs on the Coconino Plateau near Flagstaff and near the head of the Verde River in southwestern Coconino, northwestern Gila, and eastern Yavapai counties. Some plants share features with the closely adjacent, but still disjunct, var. maricopae, as discussed by S. L. Welsh (2007). M. E. Jones (1923) placed these in var. palans, a taxon well to the north. Provisionally, these unusual plants form a portion of what has traditionally been understood as var. wilsonii.
Selected References
None.