Astragalus hypoxylus

Arizona Rare Plant Committee 2001, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous, acaulescent, mat-forming perennials, stems prostrate to decumbent in a compact rosette, this generally less than 10 cm in diameter, herbage green, minutely and sparsely strigose. Leaves: Alternate, compound, odd-pinnate, leaflets 6-13, gray-green, ovate to obovate, 3-5 mm long with obtuse tips, surfaces glabrous above and sparsely pubescent below, blades folded along midrib. Flowers: Whitish with pale purple tips, papilionaceous (with banner, wing, and keel petals), to 6 mm long, keel petals arched but not long-acuminate, inflorescences borne in compact, globose heads, these to 1 cm in diameter. Fruits: Pods small, oval, 8-10 mm long, 3-4 mm in diameter, 2-celled, furrowed along the bottom suture. Ecology: Found in the Huachuca and Patagonia mountains of Arizona, in open, rocky clearings in oak-juniper-pi-on woodland on hillsides and along drainages, clearings, from 5,000-6,000 ft (1524-1829 m); flowering April-March. Distribution: Arizona only. Notes: This species is considered rare in Arizona. Good identifiers for this species are the leaflets which are glabrous above, the green herbage which is minutely and sparsely strigose, the flowers to 6 mm long, and the pods 8-10 mm long, which are furrowed along the bottom suture. Ethnobotany: There is no use recorded for this species, but other species in this genus have uses. Synonyms: Hamosa hypoxyla (S. Watson) Editor: LCrumbacher 2012 Etymology: Astragalus comes from the Greek astragalos meaning "ankle bone" and an early name applied to some plants in this family because of the shape of the seeds, while the meaning of hypoxylus is unknown.