Astragalus coccineus (Parry) Brandegee, Zoë

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

14. Astragalus coccineus (Parry) Brandegee, Zoë 2: 72. 1891

Type (Cotypi):— USA, Arizona, Inyo County, Lone Pine, Inyo Ringe , Brandegee non date, two specimens on sheet, UC 83886. Xylophacos coccineus (Brandegee) A. Heller, Muhlenbergia 2: 217. 1906 .

Astragalus grandiflorus S. Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 370. 1882.

Astragalus purshii Douglas var. coccineus Parry ex Orcutt, W. Amer. Sci. 7: 10. 1890.

Perennial. Stems subterranean, buried, emerging from subsoil, thence acaulescent, the aereal stems small, up to 13 cm long, densely white-grayish, the trichomes 1.3–2.5 mm long, of two sizes, short and long ones, ascendant to spreading. Stipules 5–10 mm long, semi-clasping, not connate, and not so evident due to dense pubescence, triangular to lanceolate. Leaves basal, rising from the apex of the root, 2–10 cm long; leaflets 7–15, sometimes, the pairs widely separated to each other, 3–14 mm long, elliptic, oblanceolate or spathulate. Peduncles 2–10 cm long; the racemes 0.5–2.5 cm long, flowers 3–10, ascendant. Flowers red, the banner with central whitish area and purple veined; the calyx cylindrical, 16–24.5 × 4.5–6. mm, ordinarily dense white pubescent, seldom with few black scattered trichomes, the tube 12–16 mm long, reddish; the teeth 3.5–8 mm long, hard, lanceolate; the banner recurved, 3.5–4.5 × 1.2–1.8 cm, oblanceolate, obtuse; the wings 3.4–3.7 × 0.3–0.4 cm, linear to oblong or lanceolate; the claw 1.6–2.2 cm long, the blade 1.8–2 cm long; the keel 3.8–4 × 0.5–0.8 cm, the claw 1.7–2.1 cm long, the blade 1.9–2 cm long. Pod 2.5–4 × 0.9–1.5 cm, humistrate but ascendant when fruit rippen, ovate, ovate-elliptic to ovoid, sometimes lunate, base rounded or narrow, compressed basally, sulcate apically, and ending in a short beak, the valves sub-fleshy, turning leathery with age, not evidently, coarse, septum absent, pubescence dense as stems; ovules 33–45; seeds 2.5–4.2 mm long, mostly brown, sometimes with purple tones.

Distribution:— Rare in Mexico, only from Baja California in the north extreme portion(Sierra Juárez and La Rumorosa surrounding area) and in the central portion (Sierra La Asamblea). Also in Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and California ( USA) ( Fig. 4 ).

Habitat:— Gravelly soils, in pine forest with juniper, and madrone, 1300 m. Also present in California ( USA) .

Comments:— Species easily differentiable from others for its small size, acaulescent, and narrow red flowers; unmistakable with any other Mexican species.

Specimens examined:— BAJA CALIFORNIA: 17 April 1994, 1 mile W of La Rumorosa, along Mex . Rte. 2, between Tecate and Mexicali, J. Rebman 2618 ( BCMEX, SD) ; 14 April 1977, Sierra Juárez. Old grade 7 km W of La Rumorosa, R. Moran 24068 ( ENCB, NY) ; 16 May 1982, Sierra Juarez ; 4.0 km southwest of La Rumorosa, R. Moran 30741 ( SD) ; 14 April 1979, Sierra Juarez ; Cuesta Blanca, 6.0 km west of La Rumorosa R. Moran 27006 ( CAS, SD) ; 15 May 1977, Sierra Juarez ; 5.0 km west of La Rumorosa, R. Moran 24122 ( SD) ; 24 April 2004, Sierra La Asamblea : northeast of El Crucero (junction of Hwy. 1 & the road to Bahia de Los Angeles), NNW of Rancho San Luis; along the trail to Cerro La Equis, NW of the camp called Datilillo, J. Rebman 10000, M. Salazar, H. Riemann, B. Vinton ( SD) ; IV-1932, Alaska, a small military outpost on road from mexicali to Tia Juana, F. M. Cota s.n. ( CAS, US) .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Map showing the distribution of Astragalus coahuilae, A. cobrensis var. maguirei, A. coccineus, A. comonduensis, and A. coriaceus in Mexico.