Astragalus malacus

Shaggy milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Shaggy milkvetch is a California native perennial found in eastern Mono, Inyo, and eastern Mojave Desert regions in sagebrush and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 900 to 2,350 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces red-violet flowers with a banner 15 to 21 millimeters long, recurved at approximately 45 degrees. Growing with ascending or erect stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall covered in spreading hairs 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters long, it forms a distinctive herb-like structure. Its leaves are 4 to 15 centimeters long with 7 to 21 leaflets that are 5 to 20 millimeters long, elliptic to obovate with slightly notched tips. The fruit is a pendulous, incurved pod 18 to 38 millimeters long, nearly three-sided and covered in long hairs.

Habitat: dry rocky or stiff soils, sagebrush, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 900-2350 m

Bioregions: e MP, SNE, e DMoj

California counties: Lassen, Inyo, San Bernardino, Mono, Modoc

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