Astragalus newberryi var. newberryi

Newberry's milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Newberry's milkvetch is a California native perennial found in the eastern Sierra Nevada and northeastern Mojave Desert in rocky pinyon and juniper woodlands at elevations of 1,300 to 2,350 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pink-purple to white flowers with pink-purple tips, the banner petals 21.5 to 30 millimeters long and recurved about 40 degrees. Growing in dense tufts with silky, partly spreading hairs, it forms clumps with persistent old leaf bases. Its compound leaves are 1.5 to 15 centimeters long, featuring 3 to 15 leaflets that are obovate, 5 to 20 millimeters long, with acute or blunt tips that may be slightly notched. The distinctive fruit is an ovate pod 13 to 28 millimeters long, densely covered in white, woolly hairs that are 2 to 4.5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Rocky areas, especially pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 1300-2350 m

Bioregions: SNE, ne DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Mono, Inyo, Siskiyou

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