Astragalus miguelensis

San miguel island milkvetch, San Miguel Island Milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

San miguel island milkvetch is a native perennial found in southern Channel Islands and southern Central Coast bioregions on coastal slopes, bluffs, and beaches at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces white to yellow flowers in dense clusters with 10 to 30 blooms. Growing with ascending stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall and covered in dense, short, woolly grayish hairs, it develops an open habit. Its compound leaves feature 17 to 27 narrow leaflets 6 to 22 millimeters long, each with blunt or slightly notched tips. The distinctive fruit is a spreading, papery pod 16 to 26 millimeters long with fine hairs, giving the plant a delicate coastal appearance.

Habitat: Slopes, bluffs, coastal beaches

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: s CCo, ChI.

California counties: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo

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