SLENDER MILK-VETCH
File Size: 86 KB
 
Astragalus gracilis  Nutt.
Barber County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 6-32 inches
Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Stems: Erect, ascending, or decumbent, 1 to few, spindly, branched.
Leaves: Alternate, stalked, odd-pinnately compound, 1 to 3 inches long; leaflets 7-21, narrowly linear or linear-oblong, 1/4 to 1 inch long, less than 1/10 inch wide, almost cylindric in cross-section, minutely stiff hairy or glabrous; tips blunt or rounded, notched slightly.
Inflorescences: Racemes, spike-like, on stalks 2 to 8 inches long, 3-50-flowered.
Flowers: Calyces bell-shaped; corollas papilionaceous, dark purple to pale pinkish or sometimes whitish with purple keel tips, fade yellowish; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free.
Fruits: Pods, small, 1-celled, egg-shaped, 1/6 to 1/3 inch long; seeds smooth, brown.
Habitat: Open prairie hilltops, wooded or brushy hillsides, ravines, and roadsides.
Distribution: West half of Kansas.
Uses: Lakota mothers would chew the roots of slender milk-vetch to enhance lactation.
Comments: Slender milk-vetch can be variable in the size, shape, and number of leaflets, the size of the flowers, and the amount of pubescence.

Slender milk-vetch inflorescence
77 KB
Barber County, Kansas
Slender milk-vetch
179 KB
Barber County, Kansas
Slender milk-vetch flowers
60 KB
Comanche County, Kansas
Slender milk-vetch
173 KB
Comanche County, Kansas
Slender milk-vetch leaf
36 KB
Scott County, Kansas
Slender milk-vetch
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Scott County, Kansas
Slender milk-vetch inflorescence
41 KB
Scott County, Kansas
Slender milk-vetch
30 KB
Scott County, Kansas