Astragalus macrodon

Salinas milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Salinas milkvetch is a California native perennial herb found in central coastal regions of California, growing on eroded pale shales, sandstone, and serpentine alluvium at elevations of 200 to 1,550 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces cream-colored flowers with red-brown-tinged tips and purple calyx lobes, arranged in clusters of 8 to 35 blooms. Growing in clumped, ascending stems 50 to 100 centimeters tall with wavy or curved hairs, it develops distinctive leaflets with purple midribs. Its compound leaves feature 11 to 29 roughly elliptic leaflets, each 7 to 20 millimeters long, with a delicate purple-edged appearance. The fruit is a bladdery, widely ovate pod 20 to 40 millimeters long with spreading or ascending hairs.

Habitat: Eroded pale shales or sandstone, serpentine alluvium

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 200-1550 m

Bioregions: c&amps SCoR.

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura

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