ASTRAGALUS HAMOSUS

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Subgen. EPIGLOTTIS

Common Name:- Southern milk-vetch

Homotypic Synonyms:- Ankylobus hamosus, Hamosa astragalus,

Tragacantha hamosa.

Meaning:- Astragalus (Gr) Ankle-bone,(a plant with knotted roots).

Hamosus (L) Hooked at the tip, hooked.

General description:- Hairy short to medium annual.

Stems:-

1) Up to 60 cm, usually branched from the base, procumbent to ascending,

Leaves:-

1) Imparipinnate, 5-10(-15) cm; leaflets, 9-11 pairs, oblong-obovate, emarginate or

truncate, hairy beneath, glabrous or subglabrous, above.

Flowers:-

1) Racemes, fairly dense, with 5-14 flowers borne in clusters of 5-14 on peduncles

that are half as long as the leaves.

2) Calyx, 5-6 mm.

3) Corolla, inconspicuous and soon deciduous, white to pale yellow.

4) Standard, 7-8 mm.

5) Stamens, 10.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 20-50 x 2-3 mm, linear, acuminate at the apex, curved for about a

semicircle, laterally compressed; beak short; valves not keeled, almost smooth,

with short appressed hairs.

Key features:-

1) Legume, 20-50 x 2-3 mm, not inflated.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Cultivated and fallow fields, roadsides, open grassland, sandy coastal

habitats. 0-600(-1200) m.

Distribution:- From NW Africa and Portugal eastwards to Greece. On Crete

sporadic with moderate distribution.

Flowering time:- Mid-Mar to May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton