Astragalus gilviflorus
 
Cushion Milk-Vetch

Flower Top

Hidden Valley Sanctuary, 
East of Craven on South Side of Qu'Appelle Valley
28-April-2016

bullet

Gilviflorus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species. 
bullet

plants low, 10 cm or less; NOT [plants taller]

bullet

plants densely caespitose or pulvinate; leaves many, crowded; flowers often included among leaves or barely exceeding them; NOT [stems evident, erect or decumbent, often branched and leafy]

bullet

flowers borne in the crown of the plant; NOT [flowers borne on more or less well developed peduncles]

bullet

NOT [leaves 1-4 cm long, linear to oblanceolate, simple or with 1 or 2 linear leaflets]

bullet

leaves trifid; NOT [leaves pinnate with several pairs of leaflets]

bullet

leaves densely villous

bullet

leaflets not needle-like; NOT [leaflets needle-like, about 10 mm long, 1 mm wide, distinctly spine-tipped]

bullet

corolla white, becoming yellowish on drying, keel tip purplish or bluish

 

bullet

Astragalus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. Not all these answers apply to all members of Astragalus in Saskatchewan, but they all do apply to this species.
bullet

herbs; NOT [shrubs]

bullet

plants very low cushion plants; NOT [plants with elongate stems]

bullet

plants not climbing

bullet

leaves palmately divided; NOT [leaves pinnately divided]

bullet

leaflets 3; NOT [leaflets more than 3]

bullet

leaflets entire; NOT [leaflets finely toothed]

bullet

leaflets not glandular-dotted

bullet

terminal leaflet normal; NOT [terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril]

bullet

flowers 2 cm long; NOT [flowers 6-8 mm long]

bullet

flowers whitish; NOT [flowers purple or yellow]

bullet

keel not truncate; NOT [keel mostly truncate]

bullet

fruit a legume; NOT [fruit a loment]

 

bullet

Leguminosae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 
bullet

herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

bullet

plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]

bullet

plants not with colored milky juice

bullet

plants with more than one normal leaf

bullet

some or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]

bullet

leaves with stipules; NOT [leaves without stipules, or having glands]

bullet

flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others

bullet

flowers irregular in shape; NOT [flowers regular in shape]

bullet

calyx regular; NOT [calyx irregular, some sepals smaller than others]

bullet

corolla pea-like; NOT [corolla with one petal spurred or sac-like]

bullet

stamens usually separate or partly so, not in a column; NOT [stamens numerous, united into a column]

bullet

fruit a legume; NOT [fruit a 3-valved capsule]