Note: Larger versions of this image can be viewed at this Flickr link. You can comment on this post here.

This is another endemic species, Astragalus circumdatus, currently known from open sandy (meadow?) habitats in the Sierras Juarez and San Pedro Martir (cf. Thorne, Moran & Minnich). It was growing in a large meadow complex with cow grazing, and it's evident it has been browsed. Again, the photos probably don't do esthetic justice to the plants here, as it was a terrible flowering year with preceding drought years as well (and the occasional cow chomping and stomping can mangle plants and kick up a lot of dirt!).

Below I summarize the characters appearing in the keying sequence from Wiggin's ''Flora of Baja California'', since that book is often hard to access and some may be interested in the distinguishing characters given there for this species.

Pods bladdery inflated, sessile in cup-like calyx, 1-celled, not divided by a complete septum; flowers small, rarely over 1.5 cm; stipules near base of stems connate, forming a sheath or cup opposite each petiole base; leaves 1.5-3.5 cm long; peduncles shorter than leaves; petals white to faintly greenish; pods longitudinally girdled with a narrow, sharpish ridge along the median valves; sandy and gravelly soil in open pine forests and open meadows from about 1800 - 2250 m; Sierras Juarez and San Pedro Martir; endemic to Baja California: May - July........A. circumdatus Greene

Greene's original 1888 description is fairly brief...a much more detailed description was given by Marcus Jones in 1932 and can be read at this BHL link. Of course, the Rolls-Royce of treatments appears in Barneby's 1964 ''Atlas of North American Astragalus'', and you can read it on pg. 975 at this link.

Two voucher images for A. circumdatus can be seen on this SEINET web page. And more images can be found on the SDMNH photo page (search under Astragalus circumdatus there).

By the way, the epithet circumdatus refers to the somewhat thickened longitudinal 'girdle' along the valve-edges of the fruit...but apparently it's not always conspicuous. I believe I can best see this 'girdle' on the shed fruits at the lower left of the image (looking at the high resolution file...see Flickr link below). Barneby gave the common name as ''girdled milk-vetch', from the 'narrow turgid margin of the pressed but unripe fruit'.

Note also that the 'stipules connate' condition given by Wiggins and Barneby applies only to the lower stem leaves and may otherwise be easily misconstrued here. It appears many leaves have stipules with their widths sharply narrowed opposite the petiole base, giving the appearance of not being fully connate. Note that Marcus Jones wrote ''stipules almost connate, free''. Regardless of this stipules character, as all the authors comment, this is a very distinctive Astragalus in many other characters...and the ID here appears sound.