Astragalus whitneyi A.Gray var. whitneyi
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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
"On the same mountain with the preceding species," i.e., "Dry rocky mountain near Sonora Pass ... in loose soil, near the summit, alt. 10,000 feet."—Holotypus, collected by G. H. Brewer in 1863, wrongly dated "1866," GH! isotypi, K, P, US!
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Synonyms
Tragacantha whitneyi (A.Gray) Kuntze, Astragalus hookerianus var. whitneyi (A.Gray) M.E.Jones, Phaca whitneyi (A.Gray) A.Heller, Astragalus whitneyi var. pinosus Elmer, Astragalus hookerianus var. pinosus (Elmer) Jeps., Phaca pinosa (Elmer) Rydb., Phaca argentata Rydb.
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Description
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Variety Description - Low and diffuse, erect only when supported by sagebrush, the stems 0.5 2.5dm. long; herbage strigulose with appressed or narrowly incurved-ascending, straight or subsinuous hairs up to (0.3) 0.35-0.55 mm. long, green to silvery- canescent, the leaflets either glabrous or pubescent above; leaves (1.5) 3-8.5 (11) cm. long, the 9-17 (19) leaflets not crowded, 2-13 (15) mm. long; racemes (3) 5-15-flowered, the axis 1-4 (4.5) cm. long in fruit; calyx 4.5-6.4 mm. long, the tube (3.5) 3.7-4.2 (4.7) mm. long, (2) 2.5-3.7 mm. in diameter, the teeth 0.8 1.5 (1.8) mm. long; petals lilac or pink-purple, the wing-tips pale or white; banner (8.3) 10-14.2 (16.5) mm. long, (5.3) 6-9.6 mm. wide; wings as long or up to 2.3 mm. shorter, (7) 9-13.6 (14.3) mm. long, the claws (3.2) 4.2-5.8 (6.1) mm., the blades (4.2) 6-9.4 mm. long, (1.7) 2-3.4 mm. wide; keel 0-2.5 (3-5) mm. shorter (exceptionally a trifle longer) than the banner, ± equaling the wings, the claws (3.2) 3.7-5.6 (6) mm., the blades (4.2) 5.5-7.2 (7.7) mm. long, (2.1) 2.5-3.3 (3.5) mm. wide; stipe of the pod 2-4.5 mm. long, the glabrous body 1.5-3, exceptionally up to 3.5 (4) cm. long, 1-1.8 (when pressed up to 2.2) cm. in diameter; ovules 18-30.
Distribution and Ecology - Stony or sandy slopes and ridges at and above timber line, descending in open places, on talus, and on rock slides into the higher sagebrush valleys and foothills, (6800) 7200-12,000 feet, common and locally abundant along the crest and east slope (rarely just west of the crest) of the Sierra Nevada, from Alpine County south to the head of Owens Valley, Inyo County, California, extending east to the White Mountains and to the Wassuk Range in Mineral County, Nevada; somewhat isolated to the south on the summits of the Piute Mountains, Kern County, and of Mt. Piños, Ventura County, California; and to the north on scattered peaks (Mt. Rose, Washoe County; West Humboldt Mountains, Pershing County; Santa Rosa Mountains, Humboldt County) of northwestern Nevada.—Map 32.—May to September.
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Discussion
Although far from being the first discovered or first described variety of the balloon milk- vetch, var. Whitneyi is the most often collected and best-documented form. It cannot be thought primitive in relation to the other varieties, but serves as a convenient protoype or standard of comparison and provides an illustration of the sort of variation to be expected in the species. Usually a low, slender plant which becomes diffuse or prostrate in open places but often grows in the shelter of sagebrush and other dwarf shrubs, it may be recognized by its relatively distant leaflets, short and compact racemes of parti-colored purple and white flowers, and by the glabrous, brightly mottled pod of moderate size, rarely surpassing 3 cm. in length. The variety varies greatly in density of vesture, but the nearly glabrous Phaca pinosa and the silvery-strigulose P. argentata, phases which become more frequent to the south and north, respectively, of the variety’s range, are probably best interprested as extreme forms in a continuous series of minor variants.
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Objects
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Distribution
California United States of America North America| Nevada United States of America North America|