Astragalus lentiginosus var. variabilis

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Spotted locoweed is a California native perennial herb found in southern Sierra Nevada foothills, Tehachapi Mountains, southern San Joaquin Valley, southern eastern Sierra Nevada, and western Mojave Desert in sandy areas at elevations of 140 to 1,850 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces distinctive purple (occasionally white) flowers with banner petals 11 to 15 millimeters long nestled in clusters of 10 to 30 blooms. Growing with ascending stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall and sometimes weak flowering stems, it develops a robust habit with sparse to dense appressed or spreading hairs. Its compound leaves span 2.5 to 13 centimeters long and feature 11 to 25 obovate leaflets measuring 4 to 17 millimeters each. The fruit is a distinctive bladdery pod 12 to 30 millimeters long, with a gently curved beak 3 to 9 millimeters in length and covered in strigose or wavy hairs.

Habitat: Sandy areas, especially with

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 140-1850 m

Bioregions: s SNF, Teh, s SnJV, s-most SNE, w&amps DMoj.

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, Tulare, Madera

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