Astragalus asymmetricus

San joaquin milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

San joaquin milkvetch is a California native perennial found in northern Coast Ranges, Great Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and southern Coast Ranges in grassy areas, open woodland, and disturbed sites at elevations of 50 to 900 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces cream-colored flowers in clusters of 15 to 45 blooms with banner petals 12.6 to 17.6 millimeters long that have margins folded back. Growing with erect, stout stems 50 to 120 centimeters tall that are often hollow and finely silky-textured, it forms clumped clusters. Its compound leaves are 5 to 20 centimeters long with 17 to 35 linear to elliptic leaflets 6 to 25 millimeters long, each with obtuse or shallowly notched tips. The fruit is a distinctive pendent, bladdery pod 25 to 40 millimeters long with an arched stalk-like base, containing 16 to 30 seeds.

Habitat: Grassy areas, open woodland, disturbed sites

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 50-900 m

Bioregions: NCoRI, GV, SnFrB, SCoR.

California counties: Kern, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Madera, Alameda, San Benito, Fresno, Lake, Contra Costa, Solano, Los Angeles, Merced, San Diego, Tuolumne, San Mateo, Santa Barbara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.