Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Low perennial with no stems or to 1 cm long, silvery-canescent herbage.; 1-12 cm tall, internodes concealed by stipules 1.5-6 mm long, distinct.

Leaves: Pinnate, 1-8 cm long, 7-13 leaflets, 2-19 mm long, 1-7 mm wide, obovate, oblanceolate to elliptic, canescent on both surfaces.

Flowers: Peduncles 0.5-10 cm long, rarely longer, racems 1-8 flowered, with ascending to spreading flowers at anthesis; bracts 0.5-2 mm long, pedicels 0.7-3 mm long; calyx 5-8.5 mm long, tube 4-6.7 mm long, campanulate to short-cylindric, strigose, teeth 1-4.2 mm long, subulate; flowers 10-16.5 mm long, pink to purple to yellowish cream; white to pale apically bilobed wing tips.

Fruits: Pod ascending, sessile, narrowly oblong, usually curved, 8-25 mm long, 3-4.5 mm thick, laterally compressed.

Ecology: Found on rocky slopes to flats from 3,000-8,000 ft (914-2438 m); flowers April-May.

Notes: The distinctive silvery-sericeous foliate and purple and white flowers help to identify this species. Ours is of var. calycosus, which is distinguished by its 3-7 leaflets that are each 5-19 mm long, more common in the lower elevations. Another possibility is var. scaposus which is found in New Mexico and is distinguished by the erect scapes that are usually longer than 7 cm.

Ethnobotany: Some varieties have use as a lotion.

Etymology: Astragalus is from Greek astragalos meaning ankle bone and is an early name applied to the genus because of the shape of the seeds, while calycosus means having a full calyx.

Synonyms: None, but includes Astragalus calycosus var. scaposus

Editor: SBuckley, 2010