Astragalus missouriensis
 
Missouri Milk-Vetch

Leaflet Bottom Close-Up

Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park
21-May-2014

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Missouriensis: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species. 
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plants with taproots and caudex; NOT [plants with rootstalks]

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plants low, cushion-like, matted or straggling; NOT [plants with erect or decumbent stems]

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plants taller; stems evident, erect or decumbent, often branched and leafy; NOT [plants low, 10 cm or less; densely caespitose or pulvinate; leaves many, crowded; flowers often included among leaves or barely exceeding them]

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stems generally less than 5 mm thick at base; NOT [stem generally thick, 5-10 mm at base]

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plants with malpighian hairs; NOT [plants lacking malpighian hairs]

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leaves silvery-grey; NOT [leaves green]

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stipules free; NOT [stipules connate]

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leaves with at least 7 leaflets

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leaflets shorter; NOT [leaflets 2-4 (6) cm long]

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

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

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flowers mostly 3-9 in a loose raceme; NOT [flowers mostly in a dense, spike-like head]

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flowers about 2 cm long; NOT [flowers about 1 cm long] (BF)

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flowers 12-30 mm long; NOT [flowers 5-12 mm long] (FOA)

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flowers purple or blue, occasionally whitish; NOT [flowers yellowish, with or without purplish tips], NOT [flowers white or cream], NOT [flowers orange]

 

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Astragalus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 
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herbs; NOT [shrubs]

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plants not climbing, lacking tendrils; NOT [plants climbing, leaves with tendrils]

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leafy stems often present; NOT [leafy stems usually absent]

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leaves pinnate; NOT [leaves palmate]

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leaves not glandular-dotted

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leaflets more than 3

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keel not truncate; NOT [keel mostly truncate]

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keel rounded or obtuse at the tip; NOT [keel with a sharp point at the tip]

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pods not segmented or jointed; NOT [pods segmented or jointed, breaking up at maturity]

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NOT [flowers pinkish to red or purple; calyx-lobes subulate, much longer than the tube; fruit only slightly longer than wide, with short, stout spines, 1-seeded]

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NOT [inflorescence umbel-like; flowers yellow; leaflets 5, pinnately arranged (the lower pair basal and resembling stipules)]

 

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Leguminosae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 
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herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

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

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plants not with colored milky juice

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plants with more than one normal leaf

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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