Astragalus lentiginosus var. sierrae 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(2): 597-1188.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
"In gravelly soil Bear Valley California."—Holotypus, collected by Jones in 1900, POM!
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Synonyms
Cystium sierrae (M.E.Jones) Rydb., Astragalus sierrae (M.E.Jones) Tidestr.
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Description
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Variety Description - Strong perennial, diffuse or prostrate, the radiating stems 1-3.5 dm. long, forming loosely woven mats, the herbage green or greenish, thinly strigulose with straight, subappressed hairs up to 0.3-0.5 mm. long, the leaflets glabrous on both sides and ciliate, or as often pubescent beneath; leaves 2-5 cm. long, with 15-21 usually crowded, sometimes imbricated, obovate or broadly oblanceolate, obtuse or emarginate, conduplicate and backwardly arched leaflets 3-8 mm. long; peduncles (0.7) 1-3 cm. long, much shorter than the leaf; racemes very shortly but loosely (5) 7-13 (15)-flowered, the axis (0.5) 1-3 cm. long in fruit; calyx 5-6 (6.6) mm. long, white-strigulose, the tube 4.3-4.8 (5.2) mm. long, 2.4—2.9 (3.3) mm. in diameter, the broadly subulate or deltoid teeth 0.5-1.2 (1.4) mm. long; petals whitish or faintly pink-tinged distally; banner 10.4-13 (14.5) mm. long, 5.1-7.5 (8) mm. wide; wings 9.4-11 (13.2) mm., the claws 4—4.7 (5.2) mm., the blades 6.2-7.2 (9) mm. long, 1.5-2.2 mm. wide; keel 8.1-9 (9.8) mm., the claws 4-4.6 (5.2) mm., the blades 4.5-5 mm. long, 2-2.5 mm. wide; pod plumply ovoid-acuminate or subglobose, 1.5-2.2 cm. long, (0.8) 1-1.5 cm. in diameter, the erect, triangular, unilocular beak 3-6 mm. long, the papery, mottled, strigulose valves becoming stramineous and sublustrous, the septum about 4-5 mm., the funicular flange about 1 mm. wide; ovules 17-24.
Distribution and Ecology - Stony meadows and open pinewoods, ± 6000-7000 feet, locally plentiful about the east end of the San Bernardino Mountains (Bear and Baldwin Lakes; Big Meadows), ascending south on Sugarloaf Mountain to 8500 feet, San Bernardino County, California.—Map No. 128.—May to July.
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Discussion
The var. sierrae, narrowly endemic to the lake basins at the east end of the San Bernardino Mountains and, contrary to expectations raised by the ill-chosen epithet, unknown from the Sierra Nevada, is in many respects intermediate between the Sierran var. ineptus and var. idriensis of the Coast Ranges. Closest to var. ineptus, the average plant having precisely the same growth-habit, small, pallid flowers, and papery pod, it may be recognized by its commonly thinner and more nearly appressed vesture and by the short, blunt calyx-teeth. The flowers of var. idriensis are ordinarily much larger and more brightly colored than those of var. sierrae, but some forms from the mountains around the head of San Joaquin Valley have flowers intermediate between the two in size and coloring, sometimes combined with the short calyx-teeth and crowded, conduplicate leaflets characteristic of var. sierrae. Such forms can be separated from var. sierrae by the pod of substantially thicker and stiffer texture.
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Objects
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Distribution
California United States of America North America|