Astragalus Didymocarpus, Two-Seeded Milkvetch

Astragalus didymocarpus is an inconspicuous, small-flowered species, though quite easy to identify; the inflorescence is a dense, compact, egg-shaped cluster, of up to 30 flowers, white or tinged purple, the calyces with a dense covering of straggly hairs, black and white.

The slender, grayish-green stems have a covering of short, strigose hairs; stems may be upright, or close to the ground. Leaves are divided into linear to oblanceolate leaflets, around half an inch long, sparsely hairy along the margins. Fruits are small, two-chambered pods.

Four varieties of astragalus didymocarpus are recognized (didymocarpus, dispermus, milesianus, obispoensis), differentiated by the length and shape of the keel petal, and the relative proportions of the white/black calyx hairs.