Astragalus coriaceus Hemsl.,

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

16. Astragalus coriaceus Hemsl., Biol. Cent.-Amer., Bot. 1(3): 263–264

Type:— Mexico, Zacatecas, North Mexico, Zacatecas, Coulter s.n. (holotype: K 000478291 digital image!).

Tragacantha coriacea (Hemsl.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 944. 1891. — Pisophaca coriacea Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 24(6): 326. 1929.

Astragalus antoninus S. Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 13: 343. 1882. — Pisophaca antonina (S. Watson) Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 24(6): 327. 1929.

Perennial. Stems prostrate, suberect to erect, up to 50 cm long, strigose, the trichomes 0.2–0.5 mm long, dense, commonly appressed. Stipules connate (the lowest ones) and bidentate, 1–2 mm long, the upper ones triangular, clasping or apparently free, but weakly joined at the base along a thin line for a half or almost 3/4 of the stem´s circumference. Leaves 2–9.5 cm long, leaflets 11–23, each pair widely separated from each other, 2–20 mm long, linear, lanceolate, lanceolate-obovate, rarely oblong-linear, apex entire or retuse. Peduncles 4–15 cm long, ascendant or somewhat curved; the racemes 1–8 cm long, flowers 5–16, ascendant. Flowers purple, purple to blue, light purple, pink-purple to dull reddish-violet, the banner with whitish center and red-violet veins; the calyx cylindrial, rarely somewhat campanulate, cylindrical, 5.6–8.7 × 2–3 mm, strigose, with black and withe trichomes mixed, or just one of them present, the tube 4.3–6.2 mm long, the teeth lanceolate, 1–3 mm long; the banner rhombic to obvate-rhombic, 13–17 × 5.3–10 mm, emarginate; the wings 12–15.3 × 2.5–3.4 mm, oblanceolate, the claw 4.2–7 mm long, the blade 8–9.8 mm long; the keel incurved, obovate, 10–13 × 2.3–3.3 mm, the claw 4–6.5 mm long, the blade 5.6–7 mm long. Pod ascendant, sessile, rarely with a minute, 1 mm long stipe present, the body inflated but hard and stiffly, non bladdery inflated and papery, 12–24 × 5–9 mm, ovate to elliptic, base rounded, long apiculate distally, unilocular, the valves leathery or fleshy, hard, brown, dark-brown to reddish-brown, strigose, with black or white trichomes or a mix of both, septum absent; ovules 20–31; seeds 2–2.5 mm long, brown to black.

Distribution:— From Chihuahua and Coahuila to Nuevo León, further south, from Durango, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas to Aguascalientes ( Fig. 4 ).

Habitat:— Plains, ravines and hills with sandy or stony, exposed rock, clayey, and red to reddish soils; gravelly gullied hills; bare sandstone; rolling hills; heavily grazed hills; chaparral and oak forest, associated with Josua tree, stool, pine, and maguey; low scrubland with Josua tree and prickly pear; pine-oak forests; pine-juniper forest; oak - douglas fir forest; pine - josua tree forest; common in disturbed and overgrazed areas; along the road; 1981–3000 m.

Comments:— Easily recognizable by its linear to lanceolate leaflets well separate from each other and the erect pod, it remaining adhered for a long time in the plant.

Specimens examined:— AGUASCALIENTES: 21 August 1976, ca. 20 km east of Rincón de Romos , road to Asientos, between Cerro Altamira and Cerro de San Juan, Rzedowski, McVaugh 1214 ( ENCB). CHIHUAHUA. 26 October 1996, Sierra Rica , Mpio. Manuel Benavides, E. Estrada 6494, 6496 ( CFNL); 25 October 1996, Chihuahua, Manuel Benavides , Sierra Rica, E. Estrada 6515, C Yen ( MEXU); 25 October 1996, Chihuahua, Manuel Benavides , Sierra Rica, E. Estrada 6525, C Yen ( MEXU); 9 August 1956, 11 miles north of Parral , U. T. Waterfall 12516 ( US); 23 September 1985, Hidalgo —de Parral (cerro de La Antena), Ochoa 204 ( MEXU). COAHUILA: 29 July 1992, Sierra Catana, J. A. Villarreal 6475, M. A Carranza, H. Nieto ( ANSM, TEX-LL); 29 September 1995, Sierra de Jimulco , Mpio. Torreón, J. A. Villarreal 8336, M. A. Carranza ( ANSM, MEXU); 20 May 2015, Sierra de Zapalinamé , 2.4 km al NE del Ejido Cuauhtémoc, J. A. Encina 4734, J. Cárdenas ( ANSM, IEB); 3 July 1985, 13 mi (20.8 km) E of Arteaga on road (terracería) to Las Vigas (Las Copetonas), C. P. Cowan 5390, M. Luckow and N. Jacobson ( NY, TEX-LL); 27 June 1941, Northcraft, Coahuila, 11 kilo. northeast of Jimulco , L. R. Stanford 17, K. L. Retherford. R. D. Northcraft ( CAS, MEXU, NY); 10/ 13 July 1880, Q. Lerios, a mountain section, 15 miles east of Saltillo. , E. Palmer 239 ( US). DURANGO: 23 October 1943, Cuchillas de Carca , H. S. Gentry 6962 ( NY); 13 August 1984, Súchil , al NE, cerca del rancho La Soledad, S. González 2915, S. Acevedo ( ANSM, MEXU. NUEVO LEÓN: 31 May 1983, Gravel road from San Rafael (Hwy 57) to San Pedro and Galena, 11.2 mi SE of San Rafael and 0.9 mi NW of San Pedro, L. J. Dorr 2643, L. C. Barnett, C. P. Cowan ( ENCB, MEXU, NY); 22 July 1977, Nuevo León, Ca. 1 mi WSW of San Pablo in small valley, 15 mi E of San Rafael off Hwy 57, C. Wells 112, G. Nesom ( NY); 4 June 1985, M. Luckow 2648, C. Cowan,N. Jacobson ( MEXU, NY); 10 August 1989, Ejido El Orito, Mpiop. Galeana, E. Estrada 1636 ( MEXU, NY, TEX-LL); 22 March 2003, E. Estrada 15319 ( CFNL). QUERÉTARO: 26 August 1989, 2 km al N de Cazadero, municipio de San Juan del Río , Rzedowski 48761 ( IEB). SAN LUIS POTOSÍ: 24 July 1934, Santa Ana, above Potrero, Sierra de Catorce. Sierra Madre Oriental. West of Santa Ana , F. W. Pennell 17533 ( NY, US); 16 June 1971, 3 miles E of Zacatecas line, W of Penon Blanco , along Highway 49, R. Spellenberg 2597, R. C. Moore ( NY). TAMAULIPAS: 22 July 1949, Tamaulipas: Between Marcella and Hermosa , Stanford, Lauber, Taylor 2652 ( CAS, US). ZACATECAS: 14 October 2008, Sierra Las Bocas , carretera a Mazapil-Zacatecas, J. A. Villarreal 9446, I. Ramírez ( ANSM); 14 October 2008, Sierra Las Bocas , carretera a Mazapil, J. A. Villarreal 9457, I. Ramírez ( ANSM, CIIDIR); 22 July 1941, On mountain 18 km west of Concepcion del Oro on Coahuila-Zacatecas border, L. R. Stanford 565, K. L. Retherford, R. D. Northcraft ( CAS, NY); 16 August 1959, 7 miles northwest of Zacatecas , U. T. Waterfall 15606 ( NY); 2 July 1973, Sierra del Astillero (approached from southeast, from Tanque El Alto ), M. C. Johnston 11563, T. L. Wendt,F. Chiang ( NY); 15 October 1965, Zacatecas, 4 miles east of Sombrerete , H. D. Ripley 14151, R. C. Barneby ( NY); 8 November 1963, Zacatecas, 2 miles east of Sombrerete , H. D. Ripley 13459, R. C. Barneby ( CAS, NY); 18 July 1934 / 19 July 1934, Mexico. Sierra Madre Oriental. Rocky limestone, F. W. Pennell 17417 ( NY).

Figures

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