Astragalus kentrophyta

General: Perennial, plants matted or mounded; stems up to 45 cm long, prostrate or spreading, less often erect, hard, almost woody; herbage ash colored, greenish, or silvery- gray, minutely strigose, villous, or hirsute, with either basifixed or dolabriform hairs. Leaves: Alternate, odd-pinnate or odd-palmate, 0.4-2.6 cm long; leaflets 3-9, linear-elliptic or linear-oblanceolate, 1- 17 mm long, glabrous or pubescent above, margins entire, apex acute, spine-tipped; stipules spine-tipped, connate, clasping, at least the lower ones; petiole short. Flowers: Inflorescence an axillary raceme, 3-30 flowered, compact, elongating in fruit; peduncle 1-9 cm long; calyx 3-8 mm long, pubescent like the herbage, the teeth 1-3.5 mm long; corolla dingy white to yellowish white, commonly veined or suffused with purple; banner 6-12 mm long, the wings about the same or slightly shorter; flowers May- September. Fruits: Legume, declined to spreading, ovate-elliptic to elliptic-oblong, 0.3-1 cm long, 1.6-4 mm in diameter, somewhat curved, green, becoming straw colored, minutely strigose; legumes sessile. Ecology: Canyons, outcrops, talus slopes, exposed habitats; 1100- 2600 m (3500-8500 ft); Apache, Coconino, Mohave, and Navajo counties; western Canada, western and southwestern U.S. Notes: Varieties elatus and coloradoensis occur within our area. The Navajo use var. elatus as a ceremonial plant and life medicine. Both varieties contain trace amounts of nitro- toxins. Editor: Springer et al. 2008