Brandegee's Milkvetch

Atelophragma brandegei (Porter) Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 32:660. 1905.
Astragalus' Brandegei Porter; Porter & Coult. Syn. Fl. Colo. 24. 1874. Tragacantha Brandegei Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 943. 1891.
A perennial, with acespitose eaudex; stems decumbent, strigose, 1-2 dm. (rarely 3 dm.) long; leaves ascending, 4— 10 cm. long, the rachis strigose; stipules lanceolate, spreading, 3-4 mm. long; leaflets 7-15, linear, usually conduplicate, 1-2 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, glabrous above, strigose beneath; peduncles 5-10 cm. long; racemes 1-5-flowered; bracts lanceolate, 2 mm. long; pedicels 2-3 mm. long; calyx strigose, the tube 2 mm. long, turbinate, the teeth lanceolate, 1 mm. long; corolla white, tinged with purple; banner broadly obovate, rather strongly arched below the middle; wings shorter, the blade obliquely obovate, strongly falcate; keel-petals still shorter, the blade broadly lunate; pod subsessile, white-strigose, oblanceolate-ellipsoid, broadest above the middle, about 15 mm. long, 5 mm. wide and thick, nearly round in cross-section, the septum nearly 2 mm. wide; seeds obliquely round-reniform, brown, 2.5 mm. long.
Type locality: Banks of the Arkansas, near Canon City [Colorado]. Distribution: Colorado. New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.

Perennial, Herbs, Stems woody below, or from woody crown or caudex, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems very short, acaulescent or subacaulescent, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems less than 1 m tall, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules membranous or chartaceous, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Stipules connate to each other, forming a tuber or sheath, Leaves compound, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins ent ire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets 5-9, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Flowers in axillary clusters or few-floweredracemes, 2-6 flowers, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Inflorescence terminal, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx glabrous, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals clawed, Petals white, Petals bicolored or with red, purple or yellow streaks or spots, Banner petal narrow or oblanceolate, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel petals auriculate, spurred, or gibbous, Stamens 9-10, Stamens diadelphous, 9 united, 1 free, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Style persistent in fruit, Fruit a legume, Fruit stipitate, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit or valves persistent on stem, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit inflated or turgid, Fruit beaked, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit hairy, Fruit 11-many seeded, Seeds cord iform, mit-shaped, notched at one end, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.