Astragalus magdalenae var. peirsonii

Peirson's milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2 · Threatened

Peirson's milkvetch is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the Algodones Dunes in southern California's desert regions at elevations of 50 to 250 meters. Flowering from December to April, this plant produces pink-purple flowers with white-tipped petals in clusters of 5 to 20 blooms. Growing with ascending or erect silvery-canescent stems 20 to 90 centimeters tall, it develops a distinctive plant structure with loosely spaced leaflets. Its leaves feature 9 to 13 narrow, oblong leaflets each 2 to 8 millimeters long, creating a delicate silvery-gray foliage. The fruit is a distinctive bladdery, papery pod 20 to 35 millimeters long, spreading outward with a half-ovate to nearly spherical shape.

Habitat: Sand dunes

Bloom period: Dec-Apr

Elevation: 50-250 m

Bioregions: DSon (Algodones Dunes)

California counties: San Diego, Imperial, Riverside

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