Astragalus panamintensis

Panamint milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Panamint milkvetch is a California native perennial found in the northern Desert Mountains of Inyo County in limestone cracks and pinyon-juniper woodland at elevations of 950 to 2,150 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pink-purple flowers with a banner 8 to 14 millimeters long, curved at about 45 degrees. Growing as a mat-forming herb with wiry, incurved branches and slender stems 1 to 15 centimeters tall, it creates a distinctive nest-like appearance. Its leaves are 1.5 to 12 centimeters long, composed of 5 to 11 narrow linear-elliptic leaflets 2 to 14 millimeters long with acute tips. The spreading or ascending fruit is 8 to 18 millimeters long, densely covered in stiff hairs and becoming papery with age.

Habitat: Cracks, limestone ledges, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 950-2150 m

Bioregions: n DMtns (Inyo Co.).

California counties: Inyo

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