Astragalus minthorniae var. villosus

Minthorn's milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Minthorn's milkvetch is a California native perennial found in the southern desert mountains, White and Inyo Mountains, and eastern desert mountains in Inyo and San Bernardino counties, inhabiting rocky, calcareous hillsides and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 1,350 to 2,300 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces cream-colored flowers with a purple keel tip, the banner 12 to 18 millimeters long and recurved at a 45-degree angle. Growing with ascending or erect stems 3 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms a robust or somewhat clumped habit with dense, spreading, grayish hairs. Its leaves are 4 to 17 centimeters long, comprising 7 to 17 leaflets that are approximately 8 to 25 millimeters long and roughly obovate in shape. The fruit is nearly erect, 15 to 30 millimeters long, slightly compressed with convex sides, and covered in spreading hairs.

Habitat: Rocky, calcareous hillsides, washes, generally pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 1350-2300 m

Bioregions: SnBr, W&ampI, DMtns (Inyo, San Bernardino cos.)

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo

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