Herbs perennial, usually caulescent (sometimes subacaulescent in A. austiniae); caudex superficial or subterranean. Hairs usually basifixed, rarely malpighian. Stems several to many. Stipules distinct or connate. Leaves odd-pinnate, petiolate to subsessile; leaflets (5 or)7–25(–29). Racemes subumbellate, spicate or loosely flowered, flowers erect, ascending, spreading, or declined and secund. Calyx tubes campanulate or turbinate, sometimes accrescent. Corollas whitish, pinkish, grayish lavender, or pale yellow, banner recurved through 35–85°, keel apex round, obtuse, or deltate, sometimes obscurely beaklike. Legumes deciduous, at least eventually, sessile or subsessile, widely spreading to declined, ovoid to oblong, ellipsoid, or lenticular-oblong, compressed laterally or 3-sided, straight, incurved, or falcate, bilocular. Seeds 4–20.

Distribution

nw United States.

Discussion

Species 9 (9 in the flora).

Section Chaetodontes is made up of five subsections with its distribution mainly in the Columbia Basin, the lower Snake River Plains, northern Great Basin to the Sierra Nevada, eastern Washington to south-central Idaho, and northeastern and east-central California.

The subsections are: subsect. Chaetodontes (A. Gray) Barneby (Astragalus spaldingii, A. tyghensis); subsect. Lyalliani Barneby (A. lyallii); subsect. Lemmoniani Barneby (A. lemmonii); subsect. Lentiformes (Rydberg) Barneby (A. caricinus, A. lentiformis); and subsect. Andersoniani Barneby (A. andersonii, A. austiniae, A. sepultipes).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Astragalus andersonii, Astragalus austiniae, Astragalus caricinus, Astragalus lemmonii, Astragalus lentiformis, Astragalus lyallii, Astragalus sepultipes, Astragalus spaldingii, Astragalus tyghensis