Astragalus striatiflorus
Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, 5: 643. 1895.
Plants 1.5–6 cm, densely canescent-hirsutulous; from branched caudex; taproot slender becoming stout and deep set. Stems only tips produced aboveground, 0–5 cm, 2–30 cm underground, often with marcescent leaf rachises, densely canescent-hirsutulous. Leaves 1–4 cm; stipules ± obscuring stem, 2–4 mm, papery-scarious; leaflet blades ovate to obovate or oblanceolate, 1–7 mm, apex obtuse, mucronate, or emarginate, surfaces pilosulous. Peduncles ascending, 1–3 cm. Racemes 2–5-flowered; axis 0.2–1 cm in fruit; bracts 1.5–2.5 mm; bracteoles 0. Pedicels 1–1.5 mm. Flowers 9–12 mm; calyx 5.5–7 mm, hirsutulous, tube 3–4 mm, lobes subulate, 1.8–3 mm; corolla pink-purple or whitish, usually suffused with purple, keel tip purple; keel not concealing style, 9–11 mm, apex long-attenuate and beaklike. Legumes mottled, straight, 12–18 × 8–15 mm, papery, spreading-hairy.
Phenology: Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat: Interdunal valleys, sandy depressions on ledges, bars and terraces in stream channels, in pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine, and sandy desert shrub communities.
Elevation: 1500–2000 m.
Discussion
The distribution of Astragalus striatiflorus is almost exclusively in a narrow strip of land in Kane and Washington counties in Utah, and adjacent Coconino County in Arizona, on substrates derived from the Vermilion and White Cliffs formation.
Selected References
None.