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Astragalus nutans
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Photographer: Aaron Schusteff
ID: 0000 0000 1012 0612 (2012-10-08)Copyright © 2012 Aaron Schusteff
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INFORMATION PROVIDED WITH THE PHOTO
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date of photo Sep 23, 2012
latitude 35.26943 longitude -115.29274 max error distance 1099 meters
View on Google Maps.
horizontal datum World Geodetic System 1984 georeferencing source GEOLocatelocation
Keystone Canyon (San Bernardino County, California, US)family
Fabaceae
notes Infructescence of what I believe to be Astragalus nutans, growing in the wash of Keystone Canyon. Nearly all the leaves of this plants had 13 leaflets, and the inflorescences had fewer than 10 flowers. The banner made an angle close to 90° with the axis of the wings/keel. The fruit was bladdery-inflated with a widely elliptical cross-section and little or no ''pinching inward'' along the abaxial or adaxial sutures. The fruit was relatively sparsely, short-appressed hairy and had a relatively short beak. I wish I had opened a fruit to check whether it was 1-chambered throughout, as that would have helped cinch the ID vis-a-vis the possibility of A. lentiginosus var. fremontii. Both species are vouchered from the area (see here and here). Going through the JM2 Astragalus key I got to ''Group 2'', and from there couplet choices 1' and 3' were clear. At couplet 4, whether I went with annual (4) or perennial (4') I ended up with A. nutans. The closest other alternatives from the key were A. lentiginosus var. fremontii or A. insularis var. harwoodii. But overall A. nutans seems to fit best to me from: angle and relative length of banner; number of flowers per infl; widely barrel-shaped fruit, with a relatively short beak and little-to-no creasing along sutures; leaflet number; flower color; overall habit; etc. Also, to my eye this plant seems to agree well with Jim Andre's posts of A. nutans from Keystone Canyon and nearby Fourth of July Canyon...see here. I don't think this plant agrees as well with images I found of the other two species mentioned above. But identifying Astragali can be tricky! If any readers see good reasons to modify the ID here, I'd appreciate any email pointing out errors I may have made, and any clear characters that might point to a different determination. For those interested, the 1964 opus magnum by Rupert Barnaby can be accessed from the following (slow to load) link for Part II of the 'Atlas of North American Astragalus'...see pg. 886 for the description A. nutans, pg. 893 for A. insularis var. harwoodii, and pg. 945 for A. lentiginosus var. fremontii. photo category: Plant - annual/perennial
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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PLANT
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| Look for Jepson Manual treatments, maps (University & Jepson Herbaria)View Calflora record for Astragalus nutansView all photos in CalPhotos of Astragalus nutans Check Google Images for Astragalus nutans |
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The photographer's identification Astragalus nutans has not been reviewed. Sign in to review or comment on this photo |
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Using this photo The thumbnail photo (128x192 pixels) on this page may be freely used for personal or academic purposes without prior permission under the Fair Use provisions of US copyright law as long as the photo is clearly credited with © 2012 Aaron Schusteff.
For other uses, or if you have questions, contact Aaron Schusteff arbonius2[AT]sbcglobal.net. (Replace the [AT] with the @ symbol before sending an email.) |
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