Astragalus funereus

Black milkvetch, black milk-vetch, black milk-vetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Black milkvetch is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the northeastern Grapevine Mountains east of Death Valley in gravelly and rocky areas at elevations of 1,050 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces pink-purple flowers with a distinctive recurved banner petal about 22 to 29 millimeters long. Growing with prostrate, loose-tufted stems 2 to 8 centimeters tall and covered in dense, grayish stiff hairs, the plant forms low, compact clusters. Its leaves are 2.5 to 7 centimeters long, composed of 7 to 17 crowded leaflets, each 3 to 12 millimeters long and obovate with blunt or notched tips. The fruit is an ascending, leathery pod 25 to 50 millimeters long, densely covered in wavy white hairs.

Habitat: Gravelly, clayey, or rocky areas

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 1050-1600 m

Bioregions: ne DMtns (Grapevine Mtns, e of Death Valley)

California counties: Inyo, Los Angeles

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