Astragalus ravenii

Raven's milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Raven's milkvetch is a rare (CNPS 1B.3) California native perennial found in southern Sierra Nevada Mountains (Fresno and Inyo counties) in gravelly habitats at elevations of 3,400 to 3,450 meters. Flowering from June to September, this delicate plant produces white flowers with faint lilac veins and a lilac keel tip, emerging in small clusters of 2 to 8 blossoms. Growing with prostrate, weak stems only 1 to 10 centimeters long, often partially buried in the ground, it forms a widely branched and open structure. Its leaves are composed of 7 to 13 small ovate to rounded leaflets, each 1 to 4 millimeters long with notched tips, creating a fine, intricate foliage. The fruit develops as an ascending, slightly curved papery pod 8 to 17 millimeters long, swollen and sparsely covered with tiny stiff hairs.

Habitat: Gravel

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: 3400-3450 m

Bioregions: s SNH (Fresno, Inyo cos.).

California counties: Fresno, Inyo, Mono

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