Astragalus gibbsii

Gibbs' milkvetch, Gibbs' Milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Gibbs' milkvetch is a California native perennial herb found in northern Sierra Nevada and Great Basin regions among sagebrush and pine habitats at elevations of 1,250 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces yellow flowers with banner and wing petals approximately 14 to 18 millimeters long in clusters of 10 to 30 blooms. Growing with many prostrate stems 15 to 35 centimeters long and covered in gray, spreading hairs, it forms a low-growing ground cover. Its compound leaves are 1.5 to 9.5 centimeters long, featuring 7 to 19 obovate or oblong leaflets ranging from 4 to 20 millimeters in length. The distinctive fruit is a pendulous, leathery pod 22 to 30 millimeters long, slightly curved and densely covered with wavy hairs.

Habitat: Among sagebrush or pines

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 1250-2400 m

Bioregions: n SNH, GB

California counties: Lassen, Shasta, Modoc, Mono, Alpine, Amador, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou

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