Plants slender, 10–60 cm, strigu­lose; caudex branched. Stems prostrate to ascending, strig­ulose. Leaves 1.5–4.5 cm; stipules 1.5–4.5 mm, papery-membranous at proximal nodes, herbaceous at distal nodes; leaflet blades obovate, oblance­olate, or oblong-obovate, (2–)3–10 mm, apex obtuse to retuse, surfaces strigulose abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Peduncles divaricate and spreading-incurved, 2.5–7 cm. Racemes 6–15-flowered; axis (1.5–)2.5–7 cm in fruit; bracts 0.8–1.8 mm; bracteoles 0–2. Pedicels 0.8–2.5 mm. Flowers 8.6–10.8 mm; calyx 3.7–5.8 mm, strigose, tube 2.4–3.7 mm, lobes subulate, 1.1–2.4 mm; corolla keel 8.2–9.6 mm. Legumes purplish, gently to strongly incurved to 0.5 spiral, 12–16 × 3.6–5 mm, incompletely bilocular, wider than high in cross section, fleshy becoming stiffly leathery, strigose, hairs ± 1 mm; septum 0.6–1 mm wide; stipe 2–5 mm.

Phenology: Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat: Gravelly and sandy or clay sub­strates, among sagebrush and pinyon pines, on igneous bedrock.
Elevation: 1500–2400 m.

Distribution

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Calif., Nev.

Discussion

Astragalus inyoensis, notable for its prostrate, zigzag stems that radiate in all directions from the root crown, is restricted to desert mountains east of Owens Valley in Inyo County in California, and Lincoln and Nye counties in Nevada.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.