Jepson Herbarium
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University of California, Berkeley
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Vascular Plants of California
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Astragalus lentiginosus var. variabilis


Higher Taxonomy
Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)View DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: LEGUME FAMILY
Habit: Annual to tree. Leaf: generally alternate, generally compound, generally stipuled, generally entire, pinnately veined Inflorescence: generally raceme, spike, umbel or head; or flowers 1--few in axils. Flower: generally bisexual, generally bilateral; hypanthium 0 or flat to tubular; sepals generally 5, generally fused; petals generally 5, free, fused, or lower 2 +- united into keel (see 3, Key to Groups, for banner, wings); stamens 10 or many (or [1], 5, 6, 7, 9), free or fused or 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, including a stalk-like base (above receptacle) or not. Seed: 1--many, often +- reniform, generally hard, smooth.
Genera In Family: +- 730 genera, 19400 species: worldwide; with grasses, requisite in agriculture, most natural ecosystems. Many cultivated, most importantly Arachis, peanut; Glycine, soybean; Phaseolus, beans; Medicago, alfalfa; Trifolium, clovers; many orns. Note: Unless stated otherwise, fruit length including stalk-like base, number of 2° leaflets is per 1° leaflet. Upper suture of fruit adaxial, lower abaxial. Anthyllis vulneraria L. evidently a waif, a contaminant of legume seed from Europe. Laburnum anagyroides Medik., collected on Mount St. Helena in 1987, may be naturalized. Ceratonia siliqua L., carob tree (Group 2), differs from Gleditsia triacanthos L. in having evergreen (vs deciduous) leaves that are 1-pinnate (vs 1-pinnate on spurs on old stems, 2-pinnate on new stems) with 2--5(8) (vs 7--17) 1° leaflets, commonly cultivated, now naturalized in southern California. Aeschynomene rudis Benth. , Halimodendron halodendron (Pall.) Voss (possibly extirpated), Lens culinaris Medik. are agricultural weeds. Caragana arborescens Lam. only cult. Ononis alopecuroides L. , Sphaerophysa salsula (Pall.) DC. all evidently extirpated. Cercidium moved to Parkinsonia; Chamaecytisus to Cytisus; Psoralidium lanceolatum to Ladeania.
eFlora Treatment Author: Martin F. Wojciechowski, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Martin F. Wojciechowski, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: AstragalusView DescriptionDichotomous Key

Common Name: LOCOWEED, MILKVETCH
Habit: Annual, perennial herb from crown, generally unarmed; hairs generally present, simple or branches 2, from base, parallel to leaf surface, unequal or not. Stem: 0 or prostrate to erect. Leaf: odd-1-pinnate (or palmately compound); leaflets generally jointed to midrib, entire; stipules membranous, lower fused around stem into sheaths (stipule sheaths) or not. Inflorescence: raceme, head- or umbel-like or not, axillary; flowers 2--many. Flower: bilateral; keel petals 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 +- dry in age, sometimes deciduous (falling from plant with or without pedicel, calyx, receptacle) before dehiscence. Seed: 2--many, smooth, compressed, +- notched at attachment scar.
Etymology: (Greek: ankle-bone or dice, perhaps from rattling of seeds within fruit) Note: Difficult; flower and fruit needed for identification; fruit said to be "deciduous" dehisce only after fruit has separated from pl; 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 varieties so identified in key. Fruit length including beak and any stalk-like base unless fruit body specified; fruit depth is suture-to-suture axis. Astragalus tephrodes A. Gray var. brachylobus (A. Gray) Barneby in southwestern Utah, Arizona, near California.
eFlora Treatment Author: Martin F. Wojciechowski & Richard Spellenberg
Unabridged Reference: Barneby 1964 Mem New York Bot Gard 20:1--1188; Isely 1998 Native and Naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the United States
Species: Astragalus lentiginosusView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Common Name: FRECKLED MILKVETCH
Habit: Perennial herb, sometimes flowering 1st year or annual, +- leafy; +- glabrous to silvery-strigose. Leaf: 1--15 cm; leaflets generally 11--27(29), linear to widely +- ovate. Inflorescence: flowers 3-- +- 50, ascending or spreading. Flower: petals +- purple, cream, +- white, or mixed +- purple and +- white, keel 0.65--0.8 × banner, banner recurved 30--50°. Fruit: variable but generally ovate or spheric, widely grooved above and below, generally +- bladdery, +- papery, deciduous; stalk-like base 0; beak generally triangular, flat; chambers 2 below beak. Chromosomes: 2n=22.
Note: Highly variable; varieties often distinct, yet intermediates are common; flower, fruit both needed for identification.
Astragalus lentiginosus Douglas var. variabilis Barneby
NATIVE
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, generally robust, coarse; hairs sparse, appressed, straight to +- dense, spreading, wavy. Stem: ascending, 1--4 dm, flower-stem sometimes 1, weak. Leaf: 2.5--13 cm; leaflets 11--25, 4--17 mm, obovate. Inflorescence: flowers 10--30; axis in fruit 4--17 cm. Flower: petals purple (white), banner 11.1--15 mm, keel 8.4--12.3 mm. Fruit: 12--30 mm, 8--15 mm wide, bladdery, sparsely to densely strigose or +- wavy-hairy, +- firm-papery; beak 3--9 mm, gently incurved. Chromosomes: 2n=22.
Ecology: Sandy areas, especially with Larrea; Elevation: 140--1850 m. Bioregional Distribution: s SNF, Teh, s SnJV, s-most SNE, w&s DMoj. Flowering Time: Mar--Jun Note: Intergrades with Astragalus lentiginosus var. fremontii, Astragalus lentiginosus var. micans to n; Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae, Astragalus lentiginosus var. nigricalycis to w.
Jepson eFlora Author: Martin F. Wojciechowski & Richard Spellenberg
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Astragalus lentiginosus var. sierrae
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Citation for this treatment: Martin F. Wojciechowski & Richard Spellenberg 2023, Astragalus lentiginosus var. variabilis, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 12, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=54820, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Astragalus lentiginosus  
var. variabilis
click for image enlargement
©2016 Keir Morse
Astragalus lentiginosus  
var. variabilis
click for image enlargement
©2011 Steve Matson
Astragalus lentiginosus  
var. variabilis
click for image enlargement
©2004 James M. Andre
Astragalus lentiginosus  
var. variabilis
click for image enlargement
©2012 Neal Kramer
Astragalus lentiginosus  
var. variabilis
click for image enlargement
©2011 Steve Matson

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Geographic subdivisions for Astragalus lentiginosus var. variabilis:
s SNF, Teh, s SnJV, s-most SNE, w&s DMoj.
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map of distribution 1

(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).






 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.

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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month Flowering-Fruiting Monthly Counts

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).