Astragalus lentiginosus var. antonius

San antonio milkvetch, San Antonio Milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

San antonio milkvetch is a rare (CNPS 1B.3) California native perennial found in the San Gabriel Mountains in dry slopes of open pine forest at elevations of 1,400 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces purple flowers with banner petals 9 to 10.5 millimeters long arranged in small clusters of 10 to 15 blooms. Growing with prostrate or spreading stems 10 to 30 centimeters long and densely hairy throughout, it forms a low, spreading habit. Its compound leaves are 3 to 8 centimeters long, featuring 11 to 21 small obovate leaflets that are densely strigose. The distinctive fruit is a pale yellow, somewhat shiny, papery pod 14 to 30 millimeters long with an erect beak 3 to 6 millimeters high.

Habitat: dry slopes in open pine forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1400-2600 m

Bioregions: SnGb.

California counties: Los Angeles, 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.