Astragalus salmonis M.E.Jones
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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
"Trout Creek, Blue Mts. Oregon, May 25th, 1885, Howell. Union Co. Oregon, May to June, Cusick. Also by Leiberg in the same situations in 1896. First collected by Barthoff [ = Dr. J. H. Bartholf, MO!] at Harney, Oregon, April to May, 1875." —Lectotypus, Ho
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Synonyms
Tium salmonis (M.E.Jones) Rydb.
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Description
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Species Description - Low, tufted, shortly caulescent or subacaulescent, thinly strigulose with fine, straight, appressed or subappressed hairs up to 0.3-0.45 mm. long, the herbage greenish or subcinereous in youth, the leaflets glabrous or nearly so above; stems several or numerous, tufted on the divisions of a shortly forking caudex, 1-5 cm. long, the internodes mostly contracted and mostly shorter than the loosely imbricated stipules, or 1-4 of them developed and up to 2 cm. long; stipules submembranous, 2-4.5 mm. long, mostly ovate, obtuse, strongly adnate to the petiole-base and amplexicaul-decurrent around the whole stem’s circumference or nearly so, the upper ones broadly lanceolate, sometimes subacute; leaves mostly subradical, 2.5-10 cm. long, all petioled, with (9) 11-15 (19) distant, narrowly oblong-elliptic, linear-oblong, or sometimes (especially in some lower leaves) oblong-obovate, obtuse or subacute, flat or loosely folded leaflets (1) 2-8 mm. long, all jointed; peduncles appearing scapose or nearly so, 3-12 cm. long, at anthesis incurved-ascending, reclinate and commonly longer than the leaves in fruit; racemes loosely 2-8-flowered, the flowers horizontal or nodding, the axis somewhat elongating, (0.5) 1-8 cm. long in fruit; bracts membranous, ovate or ovate-acuminate, 1-1.5 (2) mm. long; pedicels at anthesis 1-1.8 mm. long, in fruit irregularly spreading or contorted, 1.5-4 mm. long; bracteoles 0; calyx 5-8.9 mm. long, densely strigulose with black or mixed black and white hairs, the disc 0.6-1.2 mm. deep, the campanulate, often purplish tube 3.6-6 mm. long, 2.6-4 mm. in diameter, somewhat basally dilated behind the pedicel, the broadly subulate teeth 1.4-2.9 mm. long, the dorsal one sometimes shortest, the whole becoming papery, marcescent, usually ruptured; petals dull whitish, tinged or suffused with lavender, the keel-tip dull purple; banner 9.5-13.2 mm. long, the cuneate claw gradually expanded into an obovate or ovate, retuse blade 7-9 mm. wide; wings (as long or a trifle longer) 9.7-13.2 mm. long, the claws 3.7-5 mm., the obliquely oblanceolate or triangular-obovate blades 6.6-9.6 mm. long, distally incurved into the erose-emarginate or obscurely notched apex; keel 7.3-10.2 mm. long, the claws 3.7—5 mm., the half-obovate blades 4.2-5.9 mm. long, 2.4-3.1 mm. wide, abruptly incurved through 90-100° to the bluntly deltoid apex; anthers (0.4) 0.5-0.75 mm. long; pod essentially pendulous but often humistrate and consequently falling at random angles to the axis, stipitate, the stipe 1.5-3.5 mm. long, concealed by the persisting calyx, the obliquely oblong-ellipsoid body (1.3) 1.5-2.2 cm. long, 4.5-6.5 mm. in diameter, cuneate at both ends or tapering proximally into the stipe, cuspidate at apex, gently decurved, subtrigonously compressed, keeled ventrally by the thick, salient, convexly arched suture, flattened or openly grooved dorsally (thus inversely boat-shaped), the lateral angles convex, the somewhat fleshy, finely but densely strigulose, brightly red-mottled valves becoming leathery and rugulose-reticulate, inflexed (sometimes only through the lower half of the pod) as a narrow, incomplete septum 0.7 mm. wide or less; ovules (14) 17-29; seeds black, pitted and rugulose, 2.6-3.1 mm. long.
Distribution and Ecology - Dry stony slopes and hillsides, in stiff clay soils overlying basalt, often sheltering under sagebrush, ± 3500—4600 feet, local, eastcentral Oregon, on the upper John Day, Burnt, and Silvies Rivers, perhaps north to the head of the Grande Ronde, in Baker, northern Harney, and Malheur Counties, reported from Union County; and in Owyhee County (northwest of Riddle; Triangle), southwestern Idaho.—Map No. 54.—Late April to June.
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Discussion
The Trout Creek milk-vetch, beautifully illustrated by Abrams (1944, fig. 2858), might be described as a dwarfed, rather large-flowered version of A. atratus. The wing-petals are similar in shape in both species, that is oblanceolate, incurved beyond the keel-tip, and often slightly longer than the banner; but in A. salmonis they lack the divergent apical lobes characteristic of typical var. atratus, being merely notched or erose-emarginate as in A. atratus var. owyheensis. In eastern Oregon and in Owyhee County, Idaho, A. salmonis and var. owyheensis are sympatric and near Baker City have been found intimately associated on the same hillside. Here no one ignorant of var. atratus would suspect that two astragali differing so greatly in habit of growth could be such near kindred. However the Trout Creek milk-vetch is distinguished from all forms of the polymorphic A. atratus principally by its broader, inversely boatshaped pod.
Trout Creek, the type-locality, is given by Abrams as situated in Grant County; but according to the label in the Howell herbarium (ORE) it is the same as Silvers Valley, probably the valley of Silver Creek in northwestern Harney County. I have seen no Cusick material actually labeled Union County, and this may have been assumed by Jones. Cusick might have encountered the species near Baker City, but it is nevertheless to be sought at the head of the Grande Ronde River.
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Objects
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Distribution
Oregon United States of America North America| Idaho United States of America North America|