Astragalus castetteri (Castetter Milkvetch)

Family

FABACEAE

Scientific Name with Author

Astragalus castetteri Barneby

Synonyms

NONE

Common Name

Castetter Milkvetch

Agency Status
USFWS	State of NM	USFS	BLM	Navajo Nation	State Rank	Global Rank	R-E-D Code	NMRPTC Status	Strategy Status
					S3	G3	1-1-3	R	SS

Rare Plant Conservation Scorecard Summary
Overall Conservation Status	Documented Threats	Actions Needed
MODERATELY CONSERVED	No Information	Surveys to document status, abundance and threats

To download the Scorecard click here.

Counties

Description

Rhizomatous perennial; foliage strigose; stems 2-4 dm, clustered, ascending or decumbent; leaves 4-10 cm; leaflets 13-25, obovate to narrowly oblong, 5-15 mm long, 2-6 times longer than wide, flat or folded, often glabrate above; lower stipules connate; inflorescences compact, often within foliage, with 10-20 spreading or declined pea-like flowers, axis lengthening in fruit; calyx tube cylindric, 6-7 mm, lobes 2-3.5 mm; corolla 14-18 mm, purple or red-pink, banner curved back through 45, keel curved inward about 90; seeds numerous; pods usually humistrate (lying on the ground), stipitate, the stipe 1.5-3 mm long, one-celled (no septum), persistent, dehiscent, body bladdery-inflated, ovoid or ellipsoid-acuminate, subterete, 2-3 cm long, 1-1.6 cm wide, walls membranous-papery, almost transparent, strigulose or puberulent, often red-mottled. Flowers April-May.

Similar Species

This plant is closely related to A. hallii var. fallax. Both have connate stipules, flowers 14-18 mm long, calyx tubes 4.5-8 mm, and fruits with stipes. They may be distinguished as follows:

Astragalus castetteri - walls of fruits membranous-papery, almost transparent, 1-1.6 cm in diameter; flowering in April-May; Doña Ana and Sierra counties, New Mexico.

Astragalus hallii var. fallax - walls of fruits rigidly papery, not at all membranous; 6-12 mm in diameter; flowers May onward; western New Mexico.

Astragalus castetteri is somewhat similar to A. flexuosus var. greenei, which also has connate stipules. This variety is distinguished by its turgid fruits, smaller flowers (7-11 mm), vestigial or no stipe on pod, and different range (north- and west-central New Mexico and adjacent Arizona).

Distribution

New Mexico, Dona Ana and Sierra counties, Caballo and San Andres mountains.

Habitat

Dry, rocky slopes in montane scrub and open juniper woodland; 1,520-2,150 m (5,000-7,050 ft).

Remarks

None

Conservation Considerations

This plant occupies rocky slopes in remote desert mountain ranges where it occasionally colonizes road cuts and hardrock mine spoils. Current land uses pose little threat to this species.

Important Literature

Barneby, R.C. 1964. Atlas of North American Astragalus. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 13:1-1188.

Isely, D. 1998. Native and naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the United States (exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii). Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

*New Mexico Native Plants Protection Advisory Committee. 1984. A handbook of rare and endemic plants of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Information Compiled By

David Bleakly 1999

For distribution maps and more information, visit Natural Heritage New Mexico