Astragalus platytropis

Broad-keeled milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Broad-keeled milkvetch is a rare (CNPS 2B.2) California native perennial found in central Sierra Nevada, Sierra Nevada eastern slope, and Desert Mountains on rocky hilltops, ridges, and forest areas to above timberline at elevations of 2,350 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces white to pale purple flowers in small head-like clusters with 4 to 9 blossoms. Growing as a dense, clustered herb with stems less than 2 centimeters tall, it features silvery or gray dense hairs. Its leaves are compound with 5 to 15 elliptic to obovate leaflets, each 4 to 11 millimeters long with generally blunt tips. The fruit is an ascending, bladdery pod 15 to 33 millimeters long, with purple-speckled valves that turn brown with age.

Habitat: Rocky hilltops, ridges, forest to above timberline

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: 2350-3500 m

Bioregions: c SNH, SNE, DMtns

California counties: Inyo, Mono, Tuolumne

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