Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Creamy poison-vetch

CREAMY POISON-VETCH

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Astragalus racemosus Pursh

Smoky Valley Ranch, Logan County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 6-30 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Also Called:

Creamy milk-vetch, alkali milk-vetch.

Stems:

Erect to ascending, few or many in clumps, usually branched above, thinly to densely pubescent, somewhat zigzag.

Leaves:

Alternate, short stalked to sessile, odd-pinnately compound, 1.5 to 6 inches long, .5 to 1 inch wide; leaflets 11-31, lance-elliptic to linear-lanceolate, .5 to 1.5 inch long, thinly to densely pubescent.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, elongate, on stalks 1 to 4 inches long, 15-70-flowered.

Flowers:

Drooping; calyces bell-shaped; corollas papilionaceous, white, pale purple or whitish with purplish keel tips; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free.

Fruits:

Pods, 3-sided, linear-oblong, .5 to 1.5 inches long, pointed at each end, drooping; seeds smooth, dark brown with purple spots.

Habitat:

Prairies, hillsides, stream valleys, open wooded areas, and roadsides, in clay, shale, gypsum, or chalk soils.

Distribution:

West half of Kansas.

Toxicity:

Plants accumulate selenium from the soil. Livestock rarely will consume it but can be poisoned if they do. Selenium poisoning is known as "blind staggers". Symptoms include: rough hair coat; weight loss; vision impairment; chewing of fence posts, wire, or other metallic objects; aimless wandering; and pushing forward against solid objects like buildings or fences.

Creamy poison-vetch leaves