Astragalus inyoensis
Inyo milkvetch, Inyo milk-vetch, Inyo milk-vetch
Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Conservation status: CNPS 4.2
Inyo milkvetch is a native perennial herb ranked 4.2 by CNPS, found in the White and Inyo Mountains in gravelly areas at elevations of 1,500 to 2,650 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces pink-purple flowers in loose clusters with 6 to 15 spreading blossoms, the banner petal recurving about 45 degrees. Growing with prostrate, loose-matted stems 10 to 60 centimeters long, it forms a sparsely leafy, gray-green plant with a slender, zigzag growth habit. Its compound leaves have 9 to 21 crowded leaflets, each 3 to 10 millimeters long, narrowly obovate with blunt or notched tips. The distinctive fruit is a pendulous, lanceolate pod 12 to 15 millimeters long, strongly incurved and slightly three-sided.
Habitat: Gravelly areas
Bloom period: May-Jun
Elevation: 1500-2650 m
Bioregions: W&I
California counties: Inyo
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.