Astragalus oophorus

Bladder milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Bladder milkvetch is a California native perennial herb found in dry montane habitats at elevations suitable for its robust growth. Flowering from late spring to summer, this plant produces distinctive red-purple flowers with white wing tips, blooming in clusters of 4 to 10 spreading blossoms with banners 16 to 23 millimeters long. Growing with decumbent or ascending stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it develops a relatively glabrous structure with a spreading habit. Its compound leaves feature 7 to 21 leaflets, each 4 to 20 millimeters long and broadly ovate to nearly round. The plant's most distinctive feature is its remarkable bladdery fruit, which is widely ovate, 25 to 55 millimeters long, and somewhat pendulous or spreading.

California counties: Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino

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