Astragalus purshii

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Astragalus purshii
Astragaluspurshii1.jpg
Astragalus purshii var. tinctus. On the Thunder Mountain trail, in the Sierra Nevada, Amador County, El Dorado National Forest, California. US Forest Service photo.
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Astragalus
Species:
A. purshii
Binomial name
Astragalus purshii

Astragalus purshii is a species of milkvetch known by the common names woollypod milkvetch and Pursh's milkvetch.

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to much of western North America, including the southwestern provinces of Canada, the northwestern United States, Nevada, and across California.

It is known from many types of habitat, including mountains and deserts. It is common along the Columbia River in arid, shrub–steppe habitat growing in shallow soils. [2] It is a serial species preferring disturbed rocky soils. [3]

Astragalus purshii var. purshii flower closeup, one of the most common varieties on Burch Mountain, Chelan County Washington Astragalus purshii var. purshii 2.jpg
Astragalus purshii var. purshii flower closeup, one of the most common varieties on Burch Mountain, Chelan County Washington

Description

Astragalus purshii is a small perennial herb forming low matts on the ground no taller than 14 centimeters and often less than 5 centimeters. The compound leaves are up to 15 centimeters long and are made up of many oppositely-arranged pairs of oval or rounded leaflets. Stems and leaflets are coated in woolly white hairs giving a silvery color to the foliage. [3]

The inflorescence is a cluster of 1 to 11 complexly-shaped pink, rose, purple, or white flowers (depending on geographic location) each between 1 and 3 centimeters long. [2] The flower bract is covered with long silky white hairs. The fruit is a legume pod up to 3 centimeters long which is coated densely in thick white wooly hairs resembling a small rabbits-foot or cottonball. [2]

Astragalus purshii with fuzzy white seedheads, Sierra Nevada California Astragalus purshii milkvetch seedpuffs.jpg
Astragalus purshii with fuzzy white seedheads, Sierra Nevada California
Astragalus purshii blooming in bicycle path at 6,300 ft (1,900 m), Eastern Sierra Nevada California Astragalus purshii cushion-plant.jpg
Astragalus purshii blooming in bicycle path at 6,300 ft (1,900 m), Eastern Sierra Nevada California

Varieties

There are many varieties of Astragalus purshii, including: [3]

Cultivation

Astragalus purshii is cultivated as an ornamental plant. It is an excellent rock garden plant, as a serial ephemeral species, and an addition to municipal and agency sustainable landscape and restoration projects. It is also a component for reclamation projects.

Seeds do not require stratification and are tolerant of low precipitation and drought (municipal landscaping candidate to reduce water usage). Plants are hardy to -33F. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Astragalus acutirostris</i> Species of legume

Astragalus acutirostris is a species of milkvetch known by the common name sharpkeel milkvetch. It is native to the Mojave Desert and surroundings of California, Nevada, and Arizona, where it grows in dry, sandy, gravelly areas.

<i>Astragalus andersonii</i> Species of legume

Astragalus andersonii is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Anderson's milkvetch. It is native to eastern California and western Nevada, where it is found in the plateaus at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, including the Modoc Plateau. It was named after Charles Lewis Anderson by Asa Gray.

Astragalus anxius is a rare species of milkvetch known by the common names troubled milkvetch and Ash Valley milkvetch. It is endemic to northern Lassen County, California, where it is critically imperiled. It was formally described in 1992.

<i>Astragalus austiniae</i> Species of legume

Astragalus austiniae is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Austin's milkvetch. It is native to the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe. It is a plant of the alpine climate of the high mountains, where it tolerates exposed areas.

<i>Astragalus bolanderi</i> Species of legume

Astragalus bolanderi is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Bolander's milkvetch. It is native to western Nevada and parts of the Sierra Nevada in California. It grows in dry, rocky habitat on mountain and plateau.

<i>Astragalus brauntonii</i> Species of legume

Astragalus brauntonii is a rare species of milkvetch known by the common name Braunton's milkvetch. It is endemic to California, where it is known from fewer than 20 extant occurrences in the hills and mountains surrounding the Los Angeles Basin in Southern California. This is a federally listed endangered species in the United States.

<i>Astragalus coccineus</i> Species of plant

Astragalus coccineus is a species of milkvetch known by the common name scarlet locoweed or scarlet milkvetch. It is native to the deserts, scrub, and chaparral of the Southwestern United States in Arizona, California, and Nevada, and in northwestern Mexico.

<i>Astragalus didymocarpus</i> Species of legume

Astragalus didymocarpus is a species of milkvetch known by the common names Dwarf white milkvetch and Two-seeded milkvetch. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it can be found in many types of habitat.

Astragalus funereus is an uncommon species of milkvetch known by the common names Funeral Mountain milkvetch and black milkvetch.

<i>Astragalus gambelianus</i> Species of legume

Astragalus gambelianus is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Gambel's dwarf milkvetch. It is native to California, with its distribution extending into Oregon to the north and Baja California to the south.

<i>Astragalus kentrophyta</i> Species of flowering plant in the milkvetch genus

Astragalus kentrophyta is a species of milkvetch known by the common name spiny milkvetch. It is native to western North America from central to west Canada, to California, to New Mexico. It grows in rocky mountainous areas, such as the Sierra Nevada, and on plateaus.

<i>Astragalus layneae</i> Species of legume

Astragalus layneae is a species of milkvetch known by the common name widow's milkvetch. It is native to the Mojave Desert and surrounding mountain ridges in California and Nevada.

<i>Astragalus lentiformis</i> Species of legume

Astragalus lentiformis is a species of milkvetch known by the common name lens-pod milkvetch. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada in eastern Plumas County, California, where it grows in chaparral scrub and coniferous forests.

<i>Astragalus nuttallianus</i> Species of legume

Astragalus nuttallianus is a species of milkvetch known by the common names smallflower milkvetch and turkeypeas. It is native to the southwestern and south central United States and northern Mexico, where it can be found in many types of habitat, often in dry areas.

<i>Astragalus nuttallii</i> Species of legume

Astragalus nuttallii is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Nuttall's milkvetch. It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in the sandy soils of coastal habitat. This is a perennial herb forming thick, tangled clumps of hairy to hairless stems up to a meter in length. The abundant leaves are up to 17 centimeters in length and made up of many oval-shaped leaflets. The inflorescence is a large, dense body of up to 125 flowers, each around 1 to 1.5 centimeters long. The flowers are dull cream-colored and sometimes purple-tinted. The fruit is an inflated legume pod up to 6 centimeters long which dries to a papery texture and contains many seeds in its single chamber. One variety of this species, the ocean bluff milkvetch is endemic to the Central Coast of California.

<i>Astragalus oophorus</i> Species of legume

Astragalus oophorus is a species of milkvetch known by the common name egg milkvetch. It is native to the western United States, mainly California and Nevada, though one variety can be found as far east as Colorado. It is a plant of sagebrush and other dry habitat.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. pseudiodanthus, synonym Astragalus pseudiodanthus, is a variety of the species Astragalus lentiginosus, a milkvetch. It is known by the common name Tonopah milkvetch. It is native to the Great Basin deserts of Nevada and eastern California, such as the Tonopah area, where it grows in sandy habitat.

<i>Astragalus pycnostachyus</i> Species of aquatic plant

Astragalus pycnostachyus is a species of milkvetch known by the common name marsh milkvetch. It is endemic to the coastline of California, where it grows in wet saline habitat such as marshes.

Astragalus subvestitus is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Kern County milkvetch.

<i>Astragalus lentiginosus <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> iodanthus</i> Species of legume

Astragalus lentiginosus var. iodanthus, synonym Astragalus iodanthus, is a variety of Astragalus lentiginosus, a flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is known by the common names Humboldt River milkvetch and violet milkvetch. It is native to the western United States, where its range includes California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah. It grows on hills and in valleys in barren sandy and volcanic soils in habitat such as sagebrush.

References

  1. NatureServe (2024). "Astragalus purshii". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Taylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992]. Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 100. ISBN   0-87842-280-3. OCLC   25708726.
  3. 1 2 3 4 http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ASPU9 USDA – via the Wayback Machine.
  4. http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?3691,3718,3843 Jepson