10 

 Astragalus ceramicus Sheld. var. apus Barneby 

 I. SPECIES INFORMATION 

 A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Astragalus ceramicus var. apus 



2. COMMON NAME: Painted milkvetch 



3. FAMILY: Fabaceae 



4. GENUS: According to Cronquist et.al. (1989), the 

 genus Astragalus contains perhaps 1600 species, in 

 number of taxa but not in biomass the largest of 

 Leguminosae, dispersed primarily around the Northern 

 Hemisphere, most highly diversified in arid 

 continental, desert, and Mediterranean climates (An 

 ancient Greek name for some leguminous plant, 

 possibly from astragalos , ankle bone, in reference 

 to the pod or leaf shape.) 



5. SPECIES: Astragalus ceramicus var. apus is 



found within sand dunes and sandy flats or draws at 

 elevations of 1400-1500 m. It is locally abundant 

 on the upper Snake River Plains in Idaho and in 

 southwestern Montana (Cronquist et al. 1990) . 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR OTHER FORMAL STATUS 



1. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: Astragalus 



ceramicus var. apus is proposed as a sensitive 

 species for the Dillon Resource Area. No changes to 

 BLM status are recommended based on this study. 



2. STATE: Astragalus ceramicus var. apus is 



currently recognized by the MTHP as "critically 

 imperiled because of extreme rarity (5 or fewer 

 occurrences, or very few remaining individuals) , or 

 because of some factor of its biology making it 

 especially vulnerable to extinction" (state rank = 

 SI) . No changes to MTHP rank are recommended based 

 on this study. 



C. DESCRIPTION 



1. GENERAL NONTECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Astragalus 

 ceramicus var. apus is a perennial plant with 

 elongated stems and linear leaves. The distinctive 

 pods are oblong and inflated, like a balloon, 

 mottled with bright patches of purple. 



