Astragalus subvestitus

Kern county milkvetch, Kern County Milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Kern county milkvetch is a California native perennial ranked 4.3 by CNPS, found in southern Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tulare and Kern counties, growing in gravelly and sandy sagebrush habitats at elevations of 1,500 to 2,650 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces white to lilac flowers with pink-tipped keel petals, the banner petal curving about 40 degrees. Growing in dense, matted clusters with prostrate stems 1 to 8 centimeters long, it forms woolly gray mounds with curly hairs. Its compound leaves range 1.5 to 6.5 centimeters long, featuring 7 to 13 elliptic or obovate leaflets measuring 2 to 9 millimeters. The stiff-papery fruit is ascending, ovate, and compressed, with dense curly hairs and an erect or incurved triangular beak.

Habitat: Gravel, sand, in sagebrush

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 1500-2650 m

Bioregions: s SNH (Tulare, Kern cos.).

California counties: Tulare, Kern

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