Astragalus cicer

Chickpea milkvetch, Chickpea Milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Chickpea milkvetch is a naturalized perennial herb found in central Sierra Nevada Foothills in Tuolumne County and northern Sierra Nevada in Nevada County, occurring in moist grassy areas and open woodlands at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white flowers in dense, spheric or oblong heads with 6 to 30 ascending flowers. Growing with prostrate or ascending stems 30 to 70 centimeters long that are nearly hairless or with short, stiff, appressed hairs, it spreads in a diffuse, leafy pattern. Its compound leaves feature 5 to 35 millimeter elliptic to oblong leaflets with acute tips, arranged along stems with sheathing stipules at the base. The fruit is an ascending, inflated ovate pod 6 to 14 millimeters long, green when young and turning brown to black with a leathery texture as it matures.

Habitat: Moist grassy areas to open woodland, disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: c SNF (Tuolumne Co.), n SNH (Nevada Co.)

California counties: Nevada, Tuolumne, Placer

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