Astragalus anemophilus Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci.

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

4. Astragalus anemophilus Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 186. 1885

Type: — MEXICO, “ Cape San Quintin, Lower California , 10 May 1885, E. L. Greene (Holotype JEPS Specimen number UC82675 ; isotype NY!).

Astragalus crotalariae A. Gray var. anemophilus (Greene) M. E. Jones, Contrib. W. Bot. 10: 59. 1902.

Phaca vestita Benth., Bot. Voy. Sulphur [Bentham] 13. 1844. — Astragalus vestitus (Benth.) S. Watson, Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 258:202. 1878. Bibliogr. Index N. Amer. Bot. 202. (non Boiss. & Heldr., 1849). — Tragacantha vestita (Benth.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 949. 1891.

Perennial. Stems creeping, hard at the base, sprawling, decumbent or even suberect and its branches interlaced, up to 70 cm tall, with radial growth up to 2.5 m, in clumps, forming spots, tomentose or white tomentose, somewhat satiny or silky, the pubescence denser than leaflets, trichomes dense and soft, up to 0.6 mm long, occasionally mixed with longer scatered up to 1 mm trichomes. Stipules 2.2–8 mm long, clasping and connate, forming an erect sheath, triangular and apically acute. Leaves 3–9 cm long; leaflets 15–37, 2–14 mm long, elliptic, obovate, rarely suborbicular, obtuse or emarginate, decreasing in size distally in leaf, whitish to grayish-lead color. Peduncles 8–16 cm long, quickly bent down when the pods ripen; racemes 3–8 cm long, flowers 15–25. Flowers ochroleucous, cream-white, occasionally creamy but accompanied with lavender tones or becoming yellowish with age or even yellow-sulphur or white; the calyx, 6–6.6 × 3.5–4.1 mm, densely tomentose, the tube campanulate, 4.2–5.2 mm long, commonly with purple tones, the teeth 0.8–1.5 mm long, triangular to triangular-subulate; the banner 11.4–12.6 x 6.8–9 mm, recurved, rhombicovate to suborbicular; the wings 11.3–12.8 × 2.7–3 mm, the claw 5.2–6 mm long, the blade 5.4–5.8 mm long, oblong; the keel 10–11 × 2.7–3.3 mm, the claw 5–6.2 mm long, the blade 5.4–5.8 mm long, incurved. Pod spreading o slightly ascendant, 2.7–4 × 1.5–2.5 cm, sessile, inflated, bladder-like, ovoid to obliquately-ovoid, lightly but gradually narrowing at the base, beaked apically, valves without dorsoventrally evident sutures, opaque, not inflexed, green, sometimes with red, rose or purple tones, minutely tomentose, papery, finely reticulate; ovules 32–40; seeds 2.3–2.7 mm long, brown, smooth, opaque.

Distribution:— Endemic of northwestern Baja California, restricted to coastal dunes adjacent to the tidal zone, steep hills with sea view, vicinity of San Quintin, between 30°– 31°N, from north of Camalú, Colonia Vicente Guerrero, Los Molinos, Campo San Ramón, Cabo San Quintín, Santa María to El Socorrito, El Socorro and Campo Costa Rica ( Fig. 2 ).

Habitat:— Stable sand dunes with steep slopes; sand dunes bordering salt flats; dune slacks; sandy soil atop beach bluff, sandy dunes and lava crests; stabilized dunes atop sea cliff; hallophytic scrublands; areas with psamophilic plants and desert scrub; 10– 80 m.

Comments:— Morphologically similar and sympatric with A. harbisonii , both species having connate stipules, but the latter with the petals with purple tones and smaller, sub-diaphanous pod. There is one individual (A. Johnson 127, 25 March 1973, SD), which apparently is a hybrid betwen A. anemophilus × A. fastidius (Rebman pers. com.).

Specimens examined:—BAJA CALIFORNIA: 10 April 1999, Bahia Santa María Area , 6.6 mi S of Junction of old and new Highway (Highway number 1) enter at Playa El Socorro, S. I Morita 503 ( CAS) ; 20 April 1975, coastal dunes 4 miles SE of Santa Maria R. Moran 21802 ( CAS) ; 13 July 1996, El Socorro, dunas costeras, J. Delgadillo s.n. ( BCMEX) ; 7 May 1886, Northern Lower California, C. R. Orcutt 1325 ( NY) ; 10 April 1999, El Socorro sand dunes 22 miles south of San Quintín 6.6 miles south of junciton of old and new highways (Hwy 1), enter at Playa del Socorro, Bahia Santa Maria area , S. I. Morita 503 ( CAS, SD) ; 10 May 1885, Cape San Quintin, E. L. Greene s/n ( CAS, JEPS, NY) ; 5 April 1973, North end of 7 mile stretch of coastal sand dunes bordering salt flat known as “Laguna Mormona” extending north from the town of San Quintin, A. F. Johnson s.n. ( NY) ; 10 February1980, Common in dune slack, El Consuelo, R. Moran 28063 ( CAS, ENCB, MEXU, SD, TEX-LL, US), 28064 ( CAS) ; 8 April 1936, Lower California, San Quintin, C. Epling, WM. Stewart s/n ( CAS, JEPS, NY) ; 22 February 1982, Beach bluff west of San Quintín, R. Moran 25355 ( CAS) ; 20 April 1975, 4 miles SE of Santa María, R. Moran 21802 ( CAS, ENCB, NY, SD, TEX-LL, US); 1 April 1985, Playas de San Quintin , 2–4 km N of playa, R. F. Thorne 58924 ( MEXU, NY) ; 20 November 1963, Playa Ramon 4 miles west of Colonia Guererro, E. R. Blakley 6297 ( CAS) ; 28 November 1963, Playa Ramon 4 miles west of Colonia Guererro, E. R. Blakley 6298 ( CAS) ; 21 April 1975, Ca. 5 miles NW of San Quintín , R. Moran 21840 ( MEXU, NY, SD) ; 17 April 1958, 20.6 km south of road to San Quintin, P. H. Raven 12418, M. Mathias and J. Turner ( CAS) ; 1 January 2000, Camalú, on coast about 2 km southwest of town, about 27 km north-northwest of San Quintín , M. Fishbein 4126, S. McMahon, K. Hooper, M. Hedin, M. Lowder ( NY) ; 10 August 1933, Hamilton Ranch (Peña Colorado) on banks of Rio Santo Domingo 14 miles north of San Quintin, N. S. Cooper 57 ( CAS) ; 1 April 1985, Playas de San Quintin , 2–4 km N of playas, R. F. Thorne 58924, D. Charlton ( CAS) ; 10 January 1960, Ca. 10 miles SE of San Quintín and 2 miles inland, D. M. Porter 151 ( CAS, MEXU) ; 12 April 1941, Socorro, F. P Cronemiller 3026 ( CAS) ; 17 April 1948, West of San Quintin Bay, I. L. Wiggins 11884 ( CAS, US); 14 October 1946, 1 mile south of Socorro, I. L. Wiggins 11282 ( CAS) ; 16 December 1953, Colonia Guerrero, Harbison, Higgins s/n ( CAS, SD) ; 17 April 1958, Playa Ramon 4 miles west of Colonia Guererro, P. H. Raven, M. Mathias, J. Turner 12418 ( CAS 7 July 1980, On inner beach dunes, north end of Laguna Mormona, west of Los Molinos , R. Moran 29022 ( CAS, SD, TEX-LL) ; 26 September 1978, 2.0 km southeast of El Pabellón, R. Moran 26327 ( CAS, SD) ; 23 April 1989, San Quintin , western sandspit, P. Flanagan s.n ( CAS, SD) ; 13 July 1996, El Socorro, dunas costeras, J. Delgadillo s.n. ( SD) ; 21 February 2001, Cabo San Quintin, 29 km SSW of Lazaro Cardenas ; sand dunes, M. A. Baker 13883 ( SD) ; 27 November 1997, Costa Brava, ca. 4.7 km west Vicente Guerrero north of the mouth of the Rio Santa Domingo., S. E. Eliason, F. M. Roberts 4901, C. A. Roberts ( SD) ; 18 March 2005, Greater San Quintin. Punta Mazo, at the end of the beach on the peninsula., S. Vanderplank 050318-77, B. Lesch ( SD) .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Map showing the distribution of Astragalus acutirsotris, A. allochrous, A. amphioxys, A. anemophilus, and A. aridus in Mexico.