Astragalus nothoxys

Wiggins 1964, Martin and Hutchins 1964

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial with several stems, decumbent to prostrate 10-40 cm long, herbage green and sparingly strigose, stipules lanceolate, 2-4 mm long, ciliate margined. Leaves: Pinnate leaves 3-8 cm long, 13-19 leaflets, oval to obovate, 2-5 mm wide, 4-10 mm long, glabrous and bright green above, paler and stiff hairs below, obtuse to emarginate at the apex. Flowers: Peduncles 5-15 cm long, racemes 2-8 cm long, compact in flower elongating in fruit; calyx 5-7 mm long, stiff hairs with white and a few black hairs, tube campanulate; corolla white with purple tipped petals, 8-10 mm long, banner obovate, retuse, abruptly curved upward, slightly exceeding wings; keel petals semiorbicular, abruptly narrowed to acuminate erect beak about 0.75 mm long. Fruits: Ascending, linear-oblong to linear-lanceolate in outline, 15-22 mm long, valves brownish and finely reticulate, septum complete or nearly so. Ecology: Found on open slopes and in sandy soils, often in the oak and juniper woodlands from 1,500-6,000 ft (457-1829 m); flowers March-June. Distribution: s and c AZ, sw NM; south to n MEX. Notes: Distinct from other Astragalus by the white corollas with the keel contracted into a short, slender beak; otherwise different by having branching stems above the ground with leaves (caulescent); the compressed, linear pods; broad, ovate leaflets, <5 mm wide which are mostly hairless above (but can be hairy). Ethnobotany: Unknown 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 nothoxys comes from the Greek nothos for false and oxys for sarp or sour. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015