Plants delicate, 1.5–10 cm, strig­ulose; from slender-branched caudex. Stems prostrate to de­cumbent, very slender, under­ground for 1–6 cm, strigulose. Leaves 0.5–2.5(–3) cm; stip­ules connate, 0.8–1.5(–2) mm, papery at proximal nodes, herbaceous at distal nodes; leaflets 7–11(or 13), blades broadly oblong-obovate or suborbiculate, (1–)1.5–3.5(–4) mm, apex retuse, sur­faces villous abaxially, sparsely so adaxially. Pedun­cles (1–)1.5–5.5 cm. Racemes rather densely (1–)3–6(–8)-flowered; axis 0.2–0.7 cm in fruit; bracts 0.7–1.5 mm; bracteoles 0. Pedicels 0.5–2 mm, disjointing in age. Flowers (5.5–)6–8.4 mm; calyx 3.4–4 mm, strigulose, tube 2.5–3.3 mm, lobes subulate or triangular-subulate, 0.6–1.2 mm; corolla whitish, banner veins lilac; banner recurved through 80–90°; keel 4.5–5.5 mm. Legumes ascending (humistrate), mottled, gently incurved, obliquely ovoid, moderately inflated, somewhat dorsiventrally com­pressed, 8–13 × 5–8.5 mm, subunilocular, thin becoming papery, shortly villosulous. Seeds 16–20. 2n = 22.

Phenology: Flowering Jul–early Sep.
Habitat: Alpine fields, red fir forests.
Elevation: 3400–3500 m.

Distribution

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Calif.

Discussion

Astragalus ravenii is known from at least four pop­ulations high in the Sierra Nevada in eastern Fresno, western Inyo, and western Mono counties. It can be treated at the varietal level within A. monoensis but dif­fers in smaller stature, high elevational distribution, and more nearly unilocular fruit (D. Isely 1983, 1998). The Mono County population shows stronger resemblance to A. monoensis.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.