Astragalus lentiginosus var. kernensis
Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 102. 1945.
Plants perennial, 2.5–12 cm. Stems prostrate or decumbent. Leaves 1–5 cm; leaflets (7–)11–19, mostly conduplicate, blades elliptic-oblanceolate, oval, or obovate, 1.5–7 mm, apex obtuse or emarginate. Peduncles 0.6–2.5 cm. Racemes shortly and loosely (2 or)3–9-flowered, short and compact in fruit; axis 0.3–1.5 cm in fruit. Flowers 9.3–11.3 mm; calyx 4.1–5.3 mm, tube 3.5–4.6 mm, lobes 0.6–1.2 mm; corolla whitish or suffused purplish. Legumes in loose or compact, humistrate clusters, pale green or stramineous, purple-mottled, becoming brownish, globose or very broadly and plumply ovoid or obovoid, bladdery-inflated, 6–13 × 6–10 mm, papery, subtranslucent, sparsely and loosely strigulose; beak linear- or subulate-tubular, cusplike, bilocular. Seeds (7–)10–18.
Phenology: Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat: Dry, gravelly or sandy slopes and flats, with sagebrush, in lodgepole pine forests on granite, with bristlecone pine, on limestone.
Elevation: (1900–)2300–3100 m.
Distribution
Calif., Nev.
Discussion
The relatively small fruit size of var. kernensis coupled with a narrow, tubular beak resembling a persistent style are the main features of this delicate, montane plant. It is locally plentiful in two widely separate and restricted areas: the Kern Plateau just west of the Sierra Nevada crest in Tulare County, California, and about the summit of Charleston Peak in Clark County, Nevada.
Selected References
None.