Astragalus vaccarum A. Gray,

Castillón, Eduardo Estrada, Quintanilla, José Ángel Villarreal, Delgado-Salinas, Alfonso & Rebman, Jon P., 2023, The genus Astragalus (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae: Galegeae) in Mexico, Phytotaxa 586 (1), pp. 1921-1935 : 1921-1935

99. Astragalus vaccarum A. Gray, Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 43. 1853

Type: — USA, New Mexico, Ojo de Vaca , west of the copper mines August 1851, C. Wright 1002, (holotype:, GH 00059390 digital image!; isotype: US 00001632 digital image!, NY 00005760 digital image!, K 000478285 digital image!) .

Tragacantha vaccarum (A. Gray) Kuntze , Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 949. 1891. — Hamosa vaccarum (A. Gray) Rydb ., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 54: 334. 1927.

Astragalus militaris M. E. Jones, Rev. N.-Amer. Astragalus 278. Pl. 70. 1923. — Hamosa militaris (M. E. Jones) Rydb., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 54: 332. 1927.

Perennial. Stems up to 45 cm long, erect to diffuse, strigose, trichomes short, up to 1 mm long, straight, appressed o ascending. Stipules 2–8 mm long, free, lanceolate to deltoid. Leaves 4–12 cm long, leaflets 9–23, 2.6–24 mm long, linear, oblong to elliptic, acute to obtuse apically, short mucronate, adaxially glabrate or almost so. Peduncles 2–12 cm long, dense when young; the racemes 1.5–8 cm long, flowers 10–50, deflexed at maturity, at discontinuous intervals. Flowers purple or white with purple tones, sometimes soon ochroleucous, turning yellowish, the banner sometimes purple veined and the wing tips white; calyx 2.4–3.6 × 1.6–2.3 mm, strigose, trichomes white, black or both mixed, the tube 1.7–2.2 mm long, campanulate, the teeth 0.8–1.8 mm long, subulate; the banner 4.2–6.2 × 2–4 mm, ovate, basally narrow, widely or slightly retuse; wings 4.9–7 × 1.2–1.9 mm, the claw 1.6–2.6 mm long, the blade 3.4–4.8 mm long, oblong, elliptic to oblanceolate, apically oblique, thence incurved; the keel 3.7–5 × 1.6–2.1 mm, the claw 1.7–2.3 mm long, the blade 2–3.4 mm long, distally oblique, almost obovate. Pod 6–12 × 1.3–2 mm, sessile, triquetrous, linear, linear-oblong to elliptic, incurved, basally rounded, apically contracted in a straight to curved beak, somewhat compressed, ventrally carinate, dorsally sulcate, laterally almost straight, the angles rounded, the valves thin, light-green, minute strigose, trichomes white, sometimes mixed with black ones, turning papery to ochre with age, reticulate, septum narrow, incomplete; ovules 6–10; seeds 1.3–1.7 mm long, mitten shaped, purple-brown, smooth, somewhat shiny.

Distribution:— Endemic to northern Mexico, distributed mainly in the mountainous regions of northwestern Mexico, in the southern (Morelos, Guachochi, Guadalupe y Calvo), northwestern (Gómez Farías), southwestern (Ocampo, Huajumar, La Junta San Juanito, Uruachi, Bocoyna and Creel) Chihuahua; northern Durango (between La Zarca, Rancho Nuevo and Cruces, approximately 25°48’N – 104°52’W), southern Sinaloa (Concordia), adjacent to the political border with southwestern Durango, one isolated locality in southern Coahuila (Parras) and another one in San Luis Potosí (Charcas) ( Fig. 27 ).

Habitat:— Volcanic, clayey, sandy, gravelly, stony, red, yellow or light brown soils; grasslands; corn crops; pineoak forest; oak forest; wet canyons; disturbed areas; thorny thickets with ocotillo, acacia, mezquite; oak thickets; disturbed pine-forest; also in pine, oak, manzanita associations; mixed forests with pine, cypress and oak; 1980–2480 m.

Comments:— Of at least 19 Astragalus species within the area of distribution for this species, only two species have triquetrous sessile pods and free stipules, A. daleae and A. vaccarum . Both of these species are very similar their morphology, except in their bracts (boat shaped in A. daleae ) and the color of the petals (pale-yellow, white-greenish to ochroleucous in A. daleae ).

Specimens examined:—CHIHUAHUA: 3 September 1994, Gómez Farías. Laguna de Babícora , Cerro Canoas, E. Estrada 2928, T. Lebgue, G. Quintana ( NY) ; 20 August 1967, 39 mi. W. of Chihuahua on Rt. 16. T. F. Stuessy 1022 ( NY, TEX-LL) ; 26 July 1973, Bocoyna. W of Sizoguichic, along new road to Creek and Bocoyna, R. A. Bye 4348 ( NY) ; 3 August 1977, Along Hwy. 16, W of Chihuahua. 43.6 mi. W of General Trias, Dunn 22589, Bennett, Torke, Wieder ( ENCB, NY) ; 15 August 1994, Gómez Farías. Laguna de Babícora , Cerro Las Jaras, E. Estrada 3224, G. Quintana ( NY) ; 31 July 1988, Adolfo López Mateos. Chih. Hwy. 16, 34 km W of jxn. at La Junta, 35 km E of Tomochic, at the top of the first major ascent up Sierra Madre, R. Spellenberg 9544, R. Corral, J. Brunt, L. Huenneke ( MEXU, NY) ; 2 August 1988, Chihuahua-Ocampo — 9.6 km W of Huajumar on road to Ocampo, on road bank, R. Spellenberg 9656 ( MEXU, NY) ; IX-1851, Chihuahua, G. Thurber 1051 ( NY) ; 17 August 1984, Temosachic, P. Tenorio 6543, C. Romero ( NY) ; 19 July 1975, 9 mi. W. of Cuauhtemoc along Hwy. 16, Ellis 971, LeDoux, Watkins ( ENCB, MEXU, NY) ; 13 September 1987, Ocampo. 5.6 km of Huajumar on road to Ocampo, R. Spellenberg 9377, D. Jewell ( NY, TEX-LL) ; 13 July 1986, 1 mi. W of Guadalupe y Calvo on road to Galeana, R. Spellenberg 8561, J. Zimmerman ( NY) ; 15 July 1997, 2 mi NE of Zaragoza on Mexico Hwy 10, D. Atwood 22908, J. Spencer ( NY, TEX-LL) ; 20 al 24 September 1899, Colonia Diaz, E. W. Nelson 6448 ( US) ; 14 August 1982, Guachochi — La Ranchería, 14 km. al E de Cabórachi, R. Hernández M. 8943 ( MEXU) ; 14 August 1982, Guachochi — La Ranchería, 14 km. al E de Cabórachi, R. Hernández M. 8931, ( MEXU) ; 8 August 1982, Cabórachi , 20 km al este de Guachochi, R. Hernández M 8500

(MEXU). COAHUILA: 1–10 May 1880, San Lorenzo de Laguna, E. Palmer 235 ( NY) ; II October 1880, San Lorenzo de Laguna, E. Palmer 235 ( NY) . DURANGO: 10 July 1984, 12 km, al S de El Casco. Carr. Durango, P. Tenorio 6405, C. Romero ( MEXU, NY, US); 17 July 1982, Santiago Papasquiaro — Alrededores de Santiago Papasquiaro, R. Henrández M. 7997 ( CAS, MEXU) . SAN LUIS POTOSÍ: 7 August 1934, Charcas, C. L. Lundell 5148 ( US); 26 May 1978, C. Alcérreca 9 ( MEXU) ; 5 August 1970, A. Gómez s.n. ( MEXU) . SINALOA: 1 September 1997, Sierra Madre Occidental; off Hwy 40 (Mazatlan-Durango Hwy) at Rancho Liebre, ca. 2 km. W of El Palmito ; trail from highway to large barraca ca. 2 km NW, A. C. Sanders 21205, F. M. Roberts, P. MacKay, T. Thomas, M. Egger, S. Eliason ( NY.

Figures

FIGURE 27. Map showing the distribution of Astragalus tolucanus, A. trichopodus var. lonchus, A. vaccarum, and A. waterfallii in Mexico.