Astragalus whitneyi var. siskiyouensis

Siskiyou milkvetch

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Siskiyou milkvetch is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Ranges, and Modoc Plateau in open, gravelly or rocky areas and pine/fir forests, often on serpentine at elevations of 750 to 2,750 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces cream-colored flowers in clusters of 4 to 16 blooms, with banner petals 9.5 to 13.5 millimeters long. Growing with green or grayish stems and herbage covered in appressed hairs, it forms a compact perennial with leaves 3 to 9 centimeters long and visible spaces between leaflets. Its leaves are composed of multiple leaflets, giving the plant a delicate, open structure typical of milkvetches. The fruit is a pod 1.5 to 6 centimeters long with a short 3 to 6 millimeter stalk-like base, which is entirely glabrous.

Habitat: Open, gravelly or rocky areas, pine/fir forest, often on serpentine

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 750-2750 m

Bioregions: KR, n NCoRH, CaRH, MP

California counties: Siskiyou, Modoc, Lassen, Tehama, Trinity, Mendocino, Shasta

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