Plants perennial, dwarf, very slender, 1–6 cm, pilosulous; from shallow, subterranean branched caudex. Stems pros­trate, 3–12 cm, (0–)1–8 cm under­ground, pilosulous. Leaves 1–3 cm; stipules connate-sheathing and papery at prox­imal nodes, distinct and sub­membranous at distal nodes, 1–2.5 mm; leaflets 7–19, blades oval to obovate, 1–5 mm, apex retuse, surfaces strigulose, sometimes glabrous adaxially. Peduncles incurved-ascending, 0.3–2.2 cm. Racemes 2–6-flowered, flowers spreading; axis 0.2–0.8 cm in fruit; bracts 0.8–1.2 mm; bracteoles 0. Pedicels 1.4–2.5 mm. Flowers 6.8–8.5 mm; calyx purplish, campanulate, 3.5–4.2 mm, pilosulous, tube 2.3–3 mm, lobes subulate, 1–1.4 mm; corolla whitish, faintly suffused with pink or purple; banner abruptly recurved through 80°; keel 4.8–5 mm, apex round or narrowly triangular and beaklike. Legumes ascending to declined, purple-mottled, ovoid, bladdery-inflated, 10–23 × 8–14 mm, thin, translucent, strigose; gynophore 0.1–0.8 mm. Seeds 18–20.

Phenology: Flowering late Jun–Sep.
Habitat: Tertiary igneous gravel, frequently thermally or chemically altered, often on varicolored barrens in alpine or montane sites in tundra and spruce-fir communities, montane sagebrush sites.
Elevation: 2100–3500 m.

Distribution

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Utah.

Discussion

Astragalus perianus, initially obscure and thought to be extinct (but recollected after six decades), is known to be rather widely distributed and locally abundant in south-central Utah. Initially placed by R. C. Barneby (1964) in the disjunct sect. Monoenses, it is apparently most closely allied to A. serpens, which occurs adjacent to its range.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.