Astragalus calycosus var. calycosus

Torrey's milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Torrey's milkvetch is a California native perennial found in the northern Desert Mountains and eastern Sierra Nevada in rocky areas, sagebrush scrub, and pine forest at elevations of 1,500 to 3,550 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white to bright purple flowers with white wing tips, blossoms 10 to 13 millimeters long. Growing as a tufted, nearly stemless herb with silvery-strigose stems, it forms dense clusters close to the ground. Its leaves are composed of 3 crowded leaflets near the leaf tip, each 5 to 19 millimeters long and elliptic to obovate with generally obtuse or acute tips. The ascending fruits are 10 to 25 millimeters long, slightly three-sided and strigose, with approximately two seed chambers.

Habitat: Rocky areas, sagebrush scrub, pine forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1500-3550 m

Bioregions: SNE, n DMtns

California counties: Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino

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