Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Ground-plum milk-vetch

GROUND-PLUM MILK-VETCH

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Astragalus crassicarpus Nutt.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1-6 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Also Called:

Buffalo bean, buffalo pea.

Stems:

Decumbent, extending 4-24 inches on all sides from crown, hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, odd-pinnately compound, 2 to 5 inches long, 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide; leaflets 15-27, elliptic to oblanceolate, 1/6 to 2/3 inch long, less than 1/4 inch wide, sparsely hairy or glabrous above, hairy below; tips blunt or rounded.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, short, 5-25-flowered on stout stalks 1 to 4 inches long.

Flowers:

Calyces dark hairy; corollas papilionaceous, purple, light blue, or pinkish; banner prominent, 1/2 to 1 inch long, tip notched; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free.

Fruits:

Pods, fleshy, smooth, spherical to egg-shaped, 1/2 to 1 inch long, purplish; seeds small, numerous, black.

Habitat:

Rocky or gravelly prairies, roadsides, and open wooded hillsides, most abundant on limestone or clay soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Toxicity:

Ground-plum milk-vetch can be confused with locoweeds and poison milk-vetches, so it should not be eaten without positive identification.

Uses:

The Dakota referred to the fruit as "food of buffalo". The Dakota and Lakota used the fruits as a food source and the Lakota used the plant as medicine for horses. The fruit pods can be eaten raw or cooked.

Comments:

Resembles Astragalus plattensis

Ground-plum milk-vetch