Astragalus whitneyi var. whitneyi
Balloonpod milkvetch
Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Balloonpod milkvetch is a California native perennial found in the southern High Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, central Sierra Nevada, northern Western Transverse Ranges, northern eastern Sierra Nevada, and White and Inyo Mountains in open, sandy and rocky slopes especially at or above timberline to foothills at elevations of 1,550 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from May to September, this plant produces pink or lilac flowers with pale wing tips, with banner petals 8 to 16 millimeters long. Growing with stems 3 to 11 centimeters tall, the plant appears green to grayish with herbage hairs that are incurved-ascending to appressed. Its leaves are spaced with distinct intervals between leaflets, featuring 3 to 11 leaflets along the stem. The distinctive fruit is a glabrous pod 1.5 to 3 centimeters long, with a stalk-like base 3 to 15 millimeters in length.
Habitat: Open, sandy and rocky slopes especially at or above timberline, to foothills
Bloom period: May-Sep
Elevation: 1550-3500 m
Bioregions: CaRH, s SNF, SNH, n WTR, n SNE, W&I
California counties: Mono, Kern, Inyo, Ventura, Amador, Fresno, Lassen, Madera, Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Alpine, Modoc, Nevada, Tulare, Tuolumne
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.