Astragalus purshii is a small perennial herb forming low matts on the ground no taller than 14 centimeters and often less than 5 centimeters. The compound leaves are up to 15 centimeters long and are made up of many oppositely-arranged pairs of oval or rounded leaflets. Stems and leaflets are coated in woolly white hairs giving a silvery color to the foliage. The
inflorescence is a cluster of 1 to 11 complexly-shaped pink, rose, purple, or white flowers (depending on geographic location) each between 1 and 3 centimeters long. The flower bract is covered with long silky white hairs. The fruit is a
legume pod up to 3 centimeters long which is coated densely in thick white wooly hairs resembling a small rabbits-foot or cottonball.
Varieties There are many varieties of
Astragalus purshii, including: •
A. p. var.
concinnus — native to
Idaho and
Montana •
A. p. var.
glareosus (
syn. Astragalus glareosus) — found from
British Columbia to
Utah •
A. p. var.
lagopinus —
endemic to the
Modoc Plateau, California •
A. p. var.
lectulus — native to
California and
Nevada •
A. p. var.
ophiogenes (Snake River milkvetch) — native to
Oregon and
Idaho •
A. p. var.
pumilio —
endemic to Nevada •
A. p. var.
purshii — distributed throughout species range •
A. p. var.
tinctus — found throughout the western U.S. ==Cultivation==