Astragalus hornii var. minutiflorus M.E.Jones

  • Authors

    Rupert C. Barneby

  • Authority

    Barneby, Rupert C. 1964. Atlas of North American Astragalus. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 13(2): 597-1188.

  • Family

    Fabaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Astragalus hornii var. minutiflorus M.E.Jones

  • Type

    "San Jorge, Lower California, Brandegee, March 17, 1889.—Holotypus, CAS! isotypi, POM (fragm.), UC!

  • Synonyms

    Astragalus bajaensis E.Sheld., Astragalus miserandus Greene, Astragalus hornii var. bajaensis (E.Sheld.) M.E.Jones, Phaca bajaensis (E.Sheld.) Rydb.

  • Description

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    Variety Description - Thinly strigulose, the herbage deep green, rarely subcinereous, the leaflets glabrous above; stems (2) 3—6 dm. long; leaflets 13—33, oblong-obovate, -oblanceolate, or lance-elliptic, rarely narrowly oblanceolate, mostly emarginate; peduncles (2) 3.5-14 cm. long, much shorter to longer than the leaf; racemes (8) 10—20-flowered, the axis 1—3.5 cm. long in fruit.

    Distribution and Ecology - Saline and alkaline flats behind barrier beaches and around salt water lagoons along the Pacific Coast of Baja California, south to lat. ±25° 30' N.; also about springs, at 3500 feet, at the northwest end of Sierra Pedro Martir (Los Pozos). —Map No. 126.—November to June, perhaps intermittently throughout the year.

  • Discussion

    Despite the epithet minutiflorus, the flowers of the Baja California milk-vetch are no smaller than those of var. Hornii and differ only slightly in the prevailingly shorter calyx-teeth. Rydberg contrasted the retuse leaflets of Phaca bajaensis with the merely obtuse ones of P. Hornii, but there are now examples of characteristic var. Hornii with strongly emarginate leaflets. The short-beaked, shortly pubescent pod of var. minutiflorus seems to provide the best differential characters. Two minor variants deserve a word of notice. Brandegee s material from San Telmo (UC) has comparatively densely pubescent foliage and narrower leaflets than in other known populations of the variety; it may show the effect of a desiccating habitat. A remarkable plant collected by Wiggins near a spring at the north end of Sierra San Pedro Martir has relatively loose fruiting racemes, in which the pods are well separated each from its neighbor rather than congested into a close head as is ordinarily characteristic of the species. It may represent an undescribed variety (Wiggins 9179, DS).

  • Objects

    Specimen - 01267915, C. R. Orcutt 1324, Astragalus hornii var. minutiflorus M.E.Jones, Fabaceae (152.0), Magnoliophyta; North America, Mexico, Baja California

    Specimen - 01267919, E. Palmer 646, Astragalus hornii var. minutiflorus M.E.Jones, Fabaceae (152.0), Magnoliophyta; North America, Mexico, Baja California

    Specimen - 01267920, E. Palmer 646, Astragalus hornii var. minutiflorus M.E.Jones, Fabaceae (152.0), Magnoliophyta; North America, Mexico, Baja California

  • Distribution

    Baja California Mexico North America| Baja California Sur Mexico North America|