''Astragalus andersonii'' is a species of

milkvetch ''Astragalus'' is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to tempe ...

known by the common name Anderson's milkvetch. It is native to eastern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and western

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, where it is found in the plateaus at the foot of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, including the

Modoc Plateau __NOTOC__ The Modoc Plateau lies in the northeast corner of California as well as parts of Oregon and Nevada. Nearly of the Modoc National Forest are on the plateau between the Medicine Lake Highlands in the west and the Warner Mountains in the ...

. It was named after

Charles Lewis Anderson Charles Lewis Anderson was an American medical doctor who, in addition to the practice of medicine, made important contributions to fields of natural history, especially botany. Educated in Indiana, he spent most of his professional life in the ...

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

Description

This is a small perennial herb forming a thick patch on the ground, the stems reaching about 20 centimeters in maximum length. The plant is coated in dense gray to white wavy hairs. The leaves are up to 10 centimeters long and made up of several oval-shaped leaflets. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a projecting or upright array of 12 to 26 pealike flowers. Each flower is white, often purple-tinted or purple-veined, and between 1 and 2 centimeters long. The fruit is a curved

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

pod 1 to 2 centimeters long. It is coated in very long white hairs and dries to a thick papery texture, the beans inside rattling with the wind.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Astragalus andersonii''USDA Plants Profile for ''Astragalus andersonii''UC CalPhotos gallery
andersonii Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) ~ Endemic flora of the United States Plants described in 1865 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Astragalus-stub