Astragalus tidestromii

Tidestrom's milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Tidestrom's milkvetch is a rare (CNPS 2B.2) California native perennial found in the eastern Mojave Desert Mountains, specifically Cushenbury Canyon, in open calcareous gravel foothills at elevations of 600 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white flowers with dull purple-tinged petals and dark purple wing and keel tips, with banner petals arching approximately 40 degrees. Growing with a tufted habit and stems less than 7 centimeters long, it forms dense clusters with shaggy, curly hairs. Its compound leaves bear 7 to 19 widely obovate leaflets, each 4 to 17 millimeters long. The distinctive fruit is an ascending, curved pod 15 to 55 millimeters long, slightly lanceolate and compressed, with a long, narrowly triangular beak.

Habitat: Open, calcareous gravel, foothills

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 600-1600 m

Bioregions: DMoj (Cushenbury Canyon), e-c DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo

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