Astragalus beckwithii var. beckwithii
Stems usually slender, (0.2–)1–3 cm. Leaves: stipules 2–7 mm; leaflets (13–)17–27, blades usually suborbiculate or broadly oval rarely ovate or obovate, 3–13(–17) mm, apex truncate or retuse; bracts 2.5–4 mm; bracteoles 0.2 mm. Flowers 16.5–21 mm; calyx 7.2–8.2(–9) mm, usually black-strigulose, tube 3.5–5.3 mm, lobes 2.5–3.7 mm; corolla yellowish or whitish to ochroleucous. Legumes usually mottled, sometimes faintly so, (15–)20–30 × 7–12 mm, dorsal face flattened or shallowly and openly sulcate.
Phenology: Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat: Juniper-pinyon, sagebrush, bunchgrass, and mountain brush communities.
Elevation: 1300–2600 m.
Distribution
Idaho, Nev., Utah.
Discussion
Variety beckwithii is known from southern Idaho, to Elko and White Pine counties in Nevada, and to the western half of Utah as far south as Iron County.
Plants of var. beckwithii are indistinguishable in anthesis from those of Astragalus oophorus var. caulescens, with which they are sympatric in part of their ranges, yet they were placed in different segregate genera by P. A. Rydberg (1929b). The dorsiventrally collapsed, leathery fruits of A. beckwithii, the basis of the segregate genus Phacomene Rydberg, easily distinguishes the two species in fruit.
Selected References
None.