Astragalus distortus

Stems clustered on a stout taproot, 1-3 dm, ascending or spreading, sparsely strigulose, or glabrous below; stipules free; lfls 13-25, elliptic to obovate, 3-11 mm, sparsely strigose beneath; peduncles 5-14 cm; racemes short, with 10-20 anthocyanic to seldom white fls 10-16 mm; cal-tube 2-4 mm, the triangular lobes half as long; fr ascending, subsessile, broadly linear to ovate-elliptic, arcuate, 1.5-2.5 cm נ3.5-7 mm, turgid but not inflated, glabrous, sulcate on both sutures. Shale-barrens of W.Va., Md., and w. Va.; dry prairies, barrens, and open woods from Ill. and Io. to Miss., La., and Tex. May-July. Ours is var. distortus. (Holophacos d.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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