''Astragalus oophorus'' 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 egg milkvetch. It is native to the western United States, mainly

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

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 ...

, though one variety can be found as far east as

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. It is a plant of sagebrush and other dry habitat.

Description

''Astragalus oophorus'' is a perennial herb with a stout, mostly hairless stem reaching up to about in length. Leaves are up to long and are made up of many oval to rounded 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 an array of four to ten flowers each up to long. The flowers are cream-colored or reddish purple with white tips. The fruit is an inflated

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, oval in shape and bladder-like, to over long.

Varieties

There are several varieties of ''Astragalus oophorus'', including: *''A. o.'' var. ''caulescens'' - native to the western US from Nevada to Colorado *''A. o.'' var. ''clokeyanus'' -

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Nevada *''A. o.'' var. ''lavinii'' (Lavin's milkvetch) - native to Nevada and known from California

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Astragalus oophorus''USDA Plants Profile: Astragalus oophorusPhoto gallery: ''Astragalus oophorus'' var. ''levinii''
oocarpus Flora of the Western United States Flora of Nevada Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Astragalus-stub