Astragalus hallii var. fallax (M.E.Jones) Barneby
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Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. 1964. Atlas of North American Astragalus. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13(1): 1-596.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
"In Western New Mexico, collected by Wright (n. 1004) and by Sitgreaves, and at Flagstaff near the San Francisco Mountains, Arizona, by Rusby, and also by Lemmon." Lectotypus: Charles Wright 1004, collected in New Mexico, probably near Santa Rita del Cobr
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Synonyms
Astragalus fallax S.Watson, Astragalus famelicus E.Sheld., Astragalus gracilentus var. fallax M.E.Jones, Pisophaca famelica (E.Sheld.) Rydb.
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Description
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Variety Description - Stems and herbage cinereous, more rarely greenish; stems either diffuse or assurgent, commonly more rigid and wiry than in var. Hallii; leaflets (11) 13-23 (25); peduncles incurved-ascending to suberect, not or seldom humistrate in fruit, the pods mostly declined or deflexed, exceptionally ascending; petals variable in color, bright or pale purple, or whitish tipped or suffused with dull lilac or lurid purple; pod stipitate or subsessile, the stipe varying from obscure and no longer than wide up to 4 (4.5) mm. long, the body either erect in the plane of the stipe or incurved from its junction with the stipe, obliquely ovoid to broadly, rarely narrowly ellipsoid, slightly to greatly inflated, (1.3) 1.6-2.7 cm. long, (6) 7-12 mm. in diameter, truncately rounded or broadly turbinate at base, terete or a little compressed either dorsiventrally or laterally, either esulcate with both sutures convex (but the thickened, prominent ventral one commonly less convex than the dorsal) or (especially when incurved) openly sulcate ventrally, the stiffly papery or leathery valves strigulose or less often villosulous with white, sometimes fuscous hairs up to 0.15-0.3 mm. long; ovules (24) 28-34.
Distribution and Ecology - Stony flats and ridges in yellow pine forest, coming out into open places in oak-juniper woodland, 5500-7200 (reportedly 8500) feet, mostly in dry granitic or volcanic soils, common and locally plentiful in the Mogollon mountain-system, from Flagstaff Plateau southeast to the Pinos Altos and Mimbres Mountains, central Arizona to southwestern New Mexico; apparently somewhat isolated on Mount Taylor, Valencia County, New Mexico; and on the Santa Catalina Mountains, Pima County, Arizona.—Map No. 18.—Late May to September.
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Discussion
The original description of A. fallax Wats. was based on several collections from western New Mexico and central Arizona, which demonstrate collectively almost the whole known gamut of variation except for the narrow fruits mentioned in the discussion of A. Hallii above. Watson’s epithet referred to the fact that the plants gathered by Wright and Bigelow near the copper mines had been misidentified by Gray, and later by Torrey, as Phaca Fendleri, a much smaller-flowered plant now believed to represent no more than a minor variant of A. flexuosus. The Wright collection, singled out by Watson for special mention, has been chosen as lectotypus, thereby narrowing strict application of the name to the form of var. fallax found in the mountains of southwestern New Mexico. This differs slightly from most examples of the variety from Arizona in having an exceptionally thin-walled pod beset with spreading rather than appressed hairs, and it is possible that further collections will demonstrate a need to recognize two entities. For the moment, however, we lack well-ripened fruits from the mountains of Arizona bordering on New Mexico, and the racial situation in the area where intermediate forms are most likely to occur is thus not clear. The stipe of var. fallax is variable in length, in some populations reduced to an obscure necklike structure no longer than wide, in others prominently developed and up to 4.5 mm. long. The longest stipes occur mostly in Coconino County, Arizona, but the shortest of all are present in the same region. In southwestern New Mexico the stipe is commonly ± 1 mm. long.
A remarkable plant, ostensibly collected at Bryce Canyon, Garfield County, Utah, in June of 1932 (K. E. Wright B32/162, US) deserves special notice. It resembles A. Hallii var. fallax closely in habit of growth and in form and size of the corolla, but the stems and leaves are beset with loosely ascending or horizontal hairs up to ± 0.4 mm. long, the leaflets are relatively few (11—13 in most leaves), and the 20 or perhaps 22 ovules are less numerous than usual in var. fallax. The vesture is quite suggestive of the nearly sympatric A. subcinereus, but the flowers are very much larger. Material with fruits may prove to belong to an undescribed variety or close ally of A. Hallii.
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Objects
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Distribution
Arizona United States of America North America| New Mexico United States of America North America|