''Astragalus pachypus'' 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 thickpod milkvetch. It is

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 ...

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 ...

, where it is known from many types of open habitat across the southern half of the state. This is a robust perennial herb forming stands of tough, wiry stems up to 80 centimeters tall. Leaves are up to about 16 centimeters long and are made up of many narrow leaflets. The plant flowers in

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 ...

s of 4 to 28 cream-colored flowers. The fruit is a sharp-beaked

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 up to about 3 centimeters long which dries to a leathery, mostly hairless texture. There are two varieties of this species. The rarer, Jaeger's bush milkvetch (var. ''jaegeri''), is known mostly from western Riverside County.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery: var. ''pachypus''
pachypus Flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Astragalus-stub