Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Laxmann's Milkvetch
Astragalus laxmannii
Pea family (Fabaceae)

This species of milkvetch is wide-ranging through the Rockies from New Mexico into Canada and from the plains into the low mountain elevations. The species is also widely dispersed in China, Mongolia, Siberia, and Japan. As is true for almost all milk vetches, it is the pod that assists most in identifying species, but it is the flower that attracts attention and gets photographed, so often photographs can give just a little assistance in identifying the many milkvetch (Astragalus) species. Our North American Astragalus laxmannii was found by David Douglas (of Douglas Fir fame) near Kettle Falls, Washington in 1826. The Asian species was apparently named in 1776 from specimens collected in Siberia.


©2003 Matt Lavin, ©2012 Matt Lavin

Description

Long-lived , stems to 18" tall, erect. Leaves to 5" long, 15-23 to 1" long and 1/3" wide, to . to 6" long . 16-50 flowered, flowers erect. very short. less than 1/2" long, short-cylindric, hairy. Flowers to slightly over 1/2" long, pink purple. Pods erect, , -, to 1/2" long and 1/6" thick, with two .

Field Marks

Clump-forming milkvetch with numerous stems of numerous white to pink to violet flowers.

© Al Schneider

A peduncle is a common stalk of a cluster of flowers.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

pedicel -- The stem of a single flower.

valve -- A portion of an organ that fragments or splits open.

calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.

sessile -- attached without a stalk. For example, a leaf that clasps the stalk. A petiolate leaf has a stalk.

elliptic -- Oval, with no point or a very short point.

ovoid -- egg-shaped, with the wider portion at the base.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

leaflets -- Each little leaf-like thing in a compound leaf is a leaflet.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.