Astragalus carminis Barneby, Leafl.

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

9. Astragalus carminis Barneby, Leafl. West Bot. 7: 37. 1953

Type: — Mexico, Coahuila, Cañon de Sentenela on Hacienda Piedra Blanca, Municipio de Villa Acuña , 6 July 1936, F. Lyle Wynd & C. H. Mueller 556 (holotype: US 0004028 digital image!; isotype: ARIZ 0216e666-40a2-4290-9085-b73ff94cbc2c , GH 00059408 digital image!, MO, NY 00005790 digital image!) .

Perennial. Stems weak, up to 50 cm long, ascendant, decumbent or creeping, sometimes forming dense clumps 0.6 dm diameter, strigose, the trichomes 0.25–0.5 mm long, appressed, straight. Stipules 1.5–5 mm long, deltoid, semiclasping, sometimes embracing only half the circumference of the stem, not connate. Leaves 3–10 cm long; leaflets 13–27, 2–12 mm long, oblong-obovate to obovate, emarginate or truncate, somewhat distant among them, bicolored, glabrate adaxially, pubescent abaxially. Peduncles 4–9 cm long, straight and erect, somewhat curved with age; racemes 1–8 cm long, flowers 4–20. Flowers rose, rose-purple, purple, or flowers purple and blue in the same inflorescence, to reddish-violet; the calyx wide campanulate, 4.4–5.8 × 2–2.6 mm, membranous, the the tube 1.6–3 mm long, reddish, commonly with black and white trichomes mixed, the teeth 1.6–4 mm long, subulate; the banner 7.6–10 × 4.5–6 mm, recurved, obovate, retuse; the wings 7.6–10 × 1.5–2 mm, linear-oblong to linear-elliptic, the claw 2.3–3 mm long, the blade 6.4–8 mm long; the keel incurved, 6.3–7.5 × 2.2–2.5 mm, the claw 2.3–3 mm long, the blade 4–4.7 mm long. Pod deflexed or spreading, stipitate (the stipe 1–2.7 mm long), linear-oblong, curvate or falcate, 12–22 × 2.5–3.5 mm, narrow at both ends, triquetrous, compressed, dorsally sulcate, ventrally carinate, the valves glabrate, papery, ochre, turning brown to black with age, reticulate, septum complete, the pod thence bilocular; ovules 12–16; seeds 2–2.5 mm long, brown, smooth.

Distribution:— Endemic to Mexico, central mountains (Sierra La Madera, NW of Cuatro Ciénegas) and northern mountains (Maderas del Carmen, Sierra El Pino, and Cerro El Centinela) of Coahuila ( Fig. 3 ).

Habitat:— Sandy soils derived from igneous rock; deep and humid canyons and riparian areas; roadsides; scrublands; chaparral communities; elm-oak; maple, cypresss, juniper, pine, douglas fir, and oak forest; roadside; conifer-oak association; 700–2800 m.

Comments:— Physiognomically similar to A. greggii , but easily recognizable, the latter having stems and with abundant retrorse or straight pubescence and the flowers on average, half as long as A. carminis .

Specimens examined:—COAHUILA: 20 August 1994, Sierra Madera del Carmen, Rancho EL Secadero , cañón Poblano, M. A. Carranza 2045, 2050, J. Encina, J. García M. ( ANSM) ; 29 May 1992, Rancho Florida, aprox. 100 km al NW de Múzquiz, rumbo a Boquillas del Carmen , carr. 53, M. A. Carranza 1579, J. Noriega, L. García ( ANSM, TEX-LL) ; 6 July 1936, Rancho Agua Dulce, canyon on the eastern slope of the Sierra de San Manuel , F. L. Wynd 556 ( NY) ; 16 June 1956, Sierra Madera Mountains, four miles west and ten miles south of Ocampo , J. Graber 181 ( NY, TEX-LL) ; 23 June 1976, Cañon de la Hacienda, Sierra de la Madera, NW of Cuatro Cienagas, McGill, Reeves , Nash , D. J. Pinkava 13679 ( NY) ; 21 September 1972, Middle and upper reaches of Cañon de La Hacienda, almost due S. of Rancho Cerro de La Madera , N. slope of Sierra de la Madera, F. Chiang, T. Wendt, M.C. Johnston 9451c ( NY) ; 6 July 1989, Sierra El Carmen, ca. 20 airmiles S of US border, at Campo Dos in Cañon El Moreno (=Cn. Dos; Cn. Corte Madera), R. Spellenberg 9940 ( MEXU, NY) ; 31 June 1973, Cañon de Centinela just S. and SW. of Pico de Centinela, Sierra del Jardín , M. C. Johnston 11966, T. L. Wendt, F. Chiang, D. Riskind ( NY, TEX-LL) ; 27 July 1973, Canyon Hundido on N. side of Pico de Centinela, Sierra del Jardin , 8 km E. of Rancho El Jardi by winding road, M. C. Johnston 11774, F. Chiang, T. Wendt, D. Riskind ( NY, TEX-LL) ; 11 May 1973, Sierra de la Madera , N side, lower part of Cañon de la Hacienda, M. C. Johnston 10968, T. L. Wendt,F. Chiang ( NY, TEX-LL) ; 17 September 1989, Sierra Maderas del Carmen , E. Estrada 1805 ( ANSM, CFNL, MEXU, NY) ; 25 August 1997, Wood, Harper , Donn, s.n. ( ANSM) ; 20/ 26 August 1940, Sierra del Pino: vicinity of La Noria, end of road from T. Armendariz north into the Sierra del Pino , I.M. Johsnton 513, C.H. Muller ( MEXU) ; 3 August 1974, T. Wendt 476, A. Adamcewikz ( MEXU) ; 6 July 1936, Municipio de Villa Acuña. Sierra del Carmen; Cañon de Sentenela on Hacienda Piedra Blanca , F. Lyle W. 556, C.H. Muller ( MEXU) ; 11 September 1940, Sierra Almagre : west of the old vinata above Rancho El Almagre, I.M. Johsnton 1137, C.H. Muller ( MEXU) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Map showing the distribution of Astragalus arizonicus, A. brauntonii var. lativexillum, A. brazoensis, A. carminis, A. cenorrhynchus, and A. circumdatus in Mexico.