Bearded Milkvetch

Batidophaca villosa (Miehx.) Rydberg
Astragalus villosus Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 67. 1803. Phaca rillosa Nutt. Gen. 2: 97. 1818. Tragacantha villosa Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 949. 1891. Astragalus intonsus Sheldon. Minn. Bot. Stud. 1: 23. 1894. Tium intonsum Rydb.; Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 619, 1332. 1903.
A perennial, with a taproot and branched at the base; stems numerous, often partly subterranean, decumbent, 1-2 dm. long, pilose with long spreading white hairs; leaves spreading, 4—8 cm. long; stipules connate, green, lanceolate, attenuate, 6-9 mm. long; rachis pilose; leaflets 9-17, oval or orbicular, 5-10 mm. long, rounded or larely retuse at the apex, glabrous above, pilose beneath; peduncles 5-10 cm. long, pilose; raceme dense and short, 2-3 cm. long; bracts subulate, 2-3 mm. long; calyx long-pilose, the tube 3 mm. long, the teeth subequal, subulate, 3 mm. long; corolla cream-colored or white, 8-10 mm. long; banner obovate, rounded at the apex; wings nearly as long, the blade obliquely ovate, arcuate, longer than the claw, with a reflexed rounded auricle; keel-petals broader, 7-S mm. long; pod narrowly lanceolate in outline, arcuate, about 2 cm. long, 6 mm. wide, densely pilose, acute at each end, the upper suture acute, the lower suture sulcate, the cross-section cordate.
Type locality: Georgia.
Distribution: Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.