long; peduncles erect, incurved-ascending, or 

 divaricate, (l-)3-14 cm long; racemes very loosely 

 (1-) 3-25-f lowered, the axis (0 . 5-) 2-18 (-23) cm 

 long in fruit; bracts thinly herbaceous becoming 

 papery, ovate or lanceolate, 0.5-2.3 mm long, 

 greenish, pallid, or purple-tinged; pedicels 

 slender or subfiliform, at anthesis ascending at a 

 wide angle or arched outward, 1-3.5 mm long, in 

 fruit straight and ascending or divaricate, 

 geniculate at base and refracted, or tortuous, 

 2.2-5 mm long, tardily disjointing with the fruit; 

 bracteoles 0; calyx 4.2-6 mm long, strigulose with 

 black or white hairs, the campanulate tube 3,4-4.8 

 mm long, (2. 2-) 2. 5-3 mm in diameter, rounded or 

 obliquely turbinate at base, the broadly 

 subulate, triangular, or deltoid, mostly obtuse 

 teeth 0.5-1.4 mm long, the whole becoming papery, 

 persistent and unruptured; petals yellowish-white, 

 or tinged with dull purple, sometimes bright rose- 

 purple, all strongly incurved, usually not 

 strongly graduated; banner 8-11 mm long, the 

 shortly cuneate claw abruptly expanded into a more 

 or less ovate to suborbicular shallowly notched or 

 entire blade 5-8.2 mm wide; wings 8.5-10.5 mm 

 long, the claws (3-) 3. 5-5. 6 mm, the lunately more 

 or less oblong to obliquely obovate, obtuse, often 

 erose, or sometimes subemarginate blades 3.5-7 mm 

 long, (1.6-)2-3 mm wide; keel 8.1-9.4 mm long, the 

 claws (3-) 3.2-5.4 mm, the lunately triangular, or 

 lunately half -circular blades 4.8-6.1 mm long, 

 2.3-3 mm wide; pod essentially pendulous, sessile 

 but sometimes appearing very shortly and obscurely 

 stipitate, the body more or less linear, straight 

 or nearly so, 1.3-5 cm long, 2.3-4 mm in diameter, 

 laterally compressed; dehiscence apical and 

 downward through both sutures, the valves 

 ultimately separating to the base and coiling 

 outward, ovules 13-20; seeds brown or olivaceous, 

 sometimes purple-speckled, smooth and lustrous, or 

 ± pitted or rugulose and then either dull or 

 shining, 2.5-4.3 mm long (adapted from Barneby 

 1964 and Hitchcock and Cronquist 1961) . 



LOCAL FIELD CHARACTERS: Astragalus convallarius can 

 be recognized by a combination of characters: 

 several sparsely linear-leaflets or leafless 

 (particularly at the base) , ascending to erect, 

 elongate stems arising from a buried root crown; 

 small, loosely racemose flowers with petals not 

 much different in length and all very strongly 

 incurved; and linear, compressed pods (Figure 4). 

 Astragalus convallarius can be difficult to 



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