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AGAVE AND YUCCA | CACTI | WILDFLOWERS

Astragalus Douglasii, Douglas' Milkvetch


Plants > Wildflowers > Fabaceae > Astragalus Douglasii
Douglas' Milkvetch; Yellow flowers with green calyces; astragalus douglasii, Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, California
Yellow flowers with green calyces; astragalus douglasii, Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, California
Common name:
Douglas' milkvetch
Family:
Pea (Fabaceae)
Scientific name:
Astragalus douglasii
Main flower color:
Yellow
Range:
South and central California
Height:
Up to 3 feet
Habitat:
Oak woodland, open grassland and slopes; up to 8,000 feet
Leaves:
Up to 7 inches long, divided into 7 to 25 leaflets, ovate to obovate, these up to 1 inch long
Season:
April to July
Pintrest
Flowers of astragalus douglasii are creamy-white in color, while the buds are often pinkish. The largest petal, the banner, is about half an inch long and angled back at between 60 and 90 degrees. The keel petal is a little shorter, while the two wing petals are shorter still. The five-lobed calyx is light green, sparsely covered with short, dark, strigose hairs. Flowers form in vertical, elongated clusters of between 10 and 30, ascending to spreading. Fruits are inflated, thin-walled, light green pods up to 2 inches long and 1 inch wide.

Leaves are relatively numerous, and long, and plants produce many stems, forming sizeable clumps. Stems and leaves are covered by very short, strigose hairs. Leaflets are often notched at the tip, and the midvein is slightly recessed on the upper surface, and raised underneath.

There are three varieties (douglasii, perstrictus, parishii), distinguished by the shape of the calyx lobe, the hairiness of the calyx, and the stem position: erect or ascending to prostrate.




Pinnate leaf
Pinnate leaf
Douglas' Milkvetch
Yellow-green pods
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