Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Missouri milk-vetch

MISSOURI MILK-VETCH

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Astragalus missouriensis Nutt.

Smoky Valley Ranch, Logan County, Kansas

Perennial, taproots woody

Height: 1-6 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Stems:

Prostrate, few to several, loosely tufted, 1/2 to 6 inches long, hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, odd-pinnately compound, 1 to 5 inches long, 1/4 to 3/4 inch wide; leaflets 7-21, elliptic, 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, densely silvery-white to grayish hairy.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, short, on stalks about as long as leaves, 3-15-flowered.

Flowers:

Calyces 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, grayish or blackish hairy; corollas papilionaceous, purple to rose-purple; banner 1/2 to 1 inch long, center usually pale; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free.

Fruits:

Pods, sessile, oblong, 1/2 to 1 inch long, contracted abruptly into beaks, hairy; seeds usually wrinkled, brown.

Habitat:

Prairie hillsides, ravines, stream valleys, and roadsides, most abundant in rocky limestone soils with sparse vegetation.

Distribution:

West two thirds of Kansas.

Forage Value:

Missouri milk-vetch occasionally is grazed by livestock and wildlife.

Missouri milk-vetch calyces