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FABACEAE

LEGUME FAMILY

Annual to tree
Leaves generally compound, alternate, stipuled; leaflets generally entire
Inflorescence: generally raceme, spike, umbel or head; flowers sometime 1–2 in axils
Flowers generally bisexual, generally bilateral; hypanthium generally flat or cup-like; sepals generally 5, fused; petals generally 5, free, or the 2 lower ± fused; stamens 1–many, often 10 with 9 filaments at least partly fused, 1 (uppermost) free; pistil 1, ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, ovules 1–many, style, stigma 1
Fruit: legume, sometimes including a stalk-like base above receptacle, dehiscent, or indehiscent and breaking into 1-seeded segments, or indehiscent, 1-seeded, and achene-like
Seeds 1–several, often ± reniform, generally hard, smooth
Genera in family: ± 650 genera, 18,000 species: worldwide; with grasses, requisite in agriculture and most natural ecosystems. Many cultivated, most importantly Arachis , peanut; Glycine , soybean; Phaseolus , beans; Medicago ; Trifolium ; and many orns
Reference: [Polhill & Raven (eds) 1981 Advances in legume systematics; Allen & Allen 1981 Leguminosae]
Family description and key to genera by Duane Isely.

ASTRAGALUS

Richard Spellenberg

Annual or perennial herb from crown, glabrous to hairy; hairs sometimes forked at base, branches parallel with leaf surface, sometimes very unequal
Stem 0 or prostrate to erect
Leaves odd-1-pinnate; leaflets generally jointed to midrib; stipules membranous, sometimes fused around stem at stem base
Inflorescence: raceme, axillary, sometimes head- or umbel-like; flowers 2–many
Flower bilateral; calyx 5-lobed; banner outside wings in bud, keel blades with small protrusion at base locking into pit on adjacent wing; 9 filaments fused, 1 free; ovary (and fruit) generally sessile, style slender, stigma minute
Fruit generally 1- or ± 2-chambered, often mottled, generally becoming ± dry; placenta on upper suture
Seeds 2–many, smooth, compressed, ± notched at attachment scar
Species in genus: > 2000 species: ± worldwide (380 in North America, 94 in CA including many rare taxa)
Etymology: (Greek: ankle-bone or dice, perhaps from rattling of seeds within fruit)
Reference: [Barneby 1964 Mem NY Bot Gard 20:1–1188; Isely 1986 Iowa State J Res 61:157–289]
Very difficult; both flower and fruit needed for identification; many good species appear similar; some species complexes need study. Taxa near province boundaries may appear in > 1 key. Varieties keyed under species for simplicity; species with vars. so identified in key. Fr length includes beak and any stalk-like base unless fruit body specified.

Native

A. casei A. Gray

Perennial, slender, open and widely branched, wiry, sparsely leafy, minutely strigose
Stem ascending or erect, 1–4 dm, often zigzag
Leaf 3–10 cm, midrib rigid, tapered; leaflets 5–15, well separated, 3–25 mm, linear to oblanceolate, tips generally obtuse or notched
Inflorescence: flowers 8–25, well separated, ultimately reflexed
Flower: petals pink-purple, wing, keel tips white, rarely petals all white, banner 12–18 mm, recurved ± 45°, keel 10.6–13.3 mm
Fruit pendent; 20–55 mm, 5–10 mm wide, slightly incurved, ± half-lanceolate, wider than deep, minutely strigose, early pulpy, then tough, wrinkled; beak sharp, rigid, compressed side-to-side; sutures keel-like; chamber 1
Ecology: Dry, gravelly soils or on dunes, with sagebrush or pinyon
Elevation: 1200–2000 m.
Bioregional distribution: East of Sierra Nevada, Desert Mountains (Inyo Co.)
Distribution outside California: w Nevada
Flowering time: Apr–Jun

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