Astragalus lentiginosus var. piscinensis

Fish slough milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Threatened

Fish slough milkvetch is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native perennial found in central Sierra Nevada Eastern (near Bishop, Mono, and Inyo counties) in moist alkaline soil banks at elevations of 1,300 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces lavender flowers with a banner 13 millimeters long and keel 9 millimeters long. Growing prostrate with stems less than 1 meter tall and sparsely leafy, it has a canescent appearance. Its leaves consist of 3 to 5 linear-oblanceolate leaflets, with lateral leaflets 7 to 20 millimeters long and terminal leaflets 14 to 32 millimeters long. The fruit is strongly inflated, 20 to 24 millimeters long, densely strigose with a stiff-papery texture and a beak 4.5 to 7 millimeters long.

Habitat: Moist alkaline soil banks

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 1300 m

Bioregions: c SNE (near Bishop, Mono, Inyo cos.).

California counties: Mono, Inyo, Marin

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