Astragalus purshii Douglas ex Hook.
woollypod milk-vetch (woollypod milkvetch)
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
woollypod milk-vetch (woollypod milkvetch)
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a taproot and branching stem-base; stems prostrate, tufted or mat-forming, 5-10 cm long, greyish-woolly with unbranched hairs.
Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound, crowded, 2-15 cm long, white-woolly; leaflets 5 to 19, elliptic or oval to oblong, 5-20 mm long; stipules membranous, lanceolate, long-pointed, 3-15 mm long, usually exceeding the internodes, not joined at the base.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a short, axillary raceme of 2 to 10 pea-like flowers, the raceme-stalks from shorter to longer than the leaves, sometimes almost lacking, arching or lying on the ground in fruit; corollas yellowish-white to reddish-purple, 1-3 cm long, the banner longer than the wings and the blunt keel; calyces cylindric, 12-16 mm long, black- to grey-hairy, the narrowly lanceolate teeth 1/3-1/2 as long as the tube.
Fruits:
Pods, egg-shaped or narrowly ellipsoid, spreading, unstalked, 1-2.5 cm long, leathery, greyish-woolly, somewhat flattened, straight to curved, 1-chambered.
Notes:
Two intergrading varieties of this highly variable species are recognized in BC.
1. Flowers yellowish-white or pale lavender, the keels purple-tipped; pods nearly straight.................. var. purshii
1. Flowers reddish-purple; pods curved and strongly grooved............... var. glareosus (Dougl. ex Hook.) Barn.
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Mid Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Black
Present from Spring to Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Astragalus purshii
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
637 | 225 | 1535 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
28 | 0 | 70 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
198 | 20 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
2 | 0 | 6 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
120 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
BG | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BG(59), IDF(13), MS(2), PP(41) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||