562 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Fig. 310. Loco Weed (Astragalus mollissimus). 

 Charlotte M. King 



16. Astragalus L. Milk Vetch 



Chiefly perennial herbs with odd pinnate or occasionally simple leaves, with 

 stipules; flowers spicate or racemose; calyx 5-toothed, tubular; corolla clawed, 

 usually long and narrow; standard erect, wings oblong; keel nearly as long as 

 the wings ; stamens diadelphous ; pod several to many-seeded, dehiscent or in- 

 dehiscent; 1-2 celled. A large genus of about 1000 species of wide distribution 

 in the United States, largely western. Several species are used in medicine. 

 One plant is widely known as the loco weed. One species native to gravelly 

 knolls or dry places of the Mississippi Valley is known as the ground plum or 

 hog pea {A. caryocarpus). This species is said to be edible. It should, how- 

 ever, be used with caution. 



Astragalus mollissiiniis Torr. Loco Weed 



A stout, short-stemmed perennial with membraneous stipules; leaflets 19-27, 

 ovate oblong; flowers in dense spikes, violet purple, rather large; pod oblong, 

 glabrous somewhat compressed, sessile, furrowed at both sutures, at length 

 curved. 



Distribution. Found on plains of Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado to Texas 

 and New Mexico. 



