Astragalus tener

Alkali milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Alkali milkvetch is a delicate California native annual found in low-elevation grasslands and wetland margins. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces pink-purple flowers with recurved banner petals 5 to 12 millimeters long in small dense clusters of 2 to 12 blooms. Growing with erect or ascending slender stems 2 to 30 centimeters tall, it appears sparsely hairy or almost smooth. Its compound leaves are 2 to 9 centimeters long, composed of 7 to 17 leaflets that are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, with tips that are either notched or pointed. The plant produces distinctive reflexed seed pods 6 to 50 millimeters long that are narrowly lanceolate and stiff-papery.

California counties: Yolo, Merced, Lake, Colusa, Contra Costa, Alameda, Monterey, Solano

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