Astragalus purshii var. tinctus

Pursh's milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Pursh's milkvetch is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi Mountains, southern Coast Ranges, western Transverse Ranges, San Bernardino Mountains, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions in gravelly and sandy flats and slopes, often among pines or sagebrush at elevations of 450 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pink-purple to purple flowers with a banner 14.6 to 25 millimeters long and delicate petals clustered in small groups of 3 to 11 blossoms. Growing with low-spreading stems zero to 10 centimeters tall, it forms compact cushion-like clumps across open, dry landscapes. Its compound leaves extend 2 to 11 centimeters long, comprising 3 to 17 small leaflets each 2 to 14 millimeters in length. The distinctive fruit is an elongated pod 13 to 27 millimeters long, often with two chambers, containing 18 to 46 seeds.

Habitat: Gravelly, sandy flats, slopes, often with pines or sagebrush

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 450-3000 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, Teh, SCoRI, WTR, SnBr, GB, DMoj

California counties: Kern, San Bernardino, Mono, Los Angeles, Alpine, Inyo, Ventura, Modoc, Siskiyou, Tehama, Lassen, Butte, Plumas, Mendocino, Fresno, Shasta, San Benito, Nevada, Tulare, Sierra, Lake, Trinity, Tuolumne, Riverside, Monterey, Placer, Amador, Colusa

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