Yakima milk-vetch

Appearance

General: Perennial from a woody taproot and short, branched crown, the many stems 2-12 cm. tall, usually grayish-silky.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, pinnate, numerous, crowded, 7-30 cm. long; leaflets 17-37, linear to oblong-oblanceolate, 3-25 mm. long and 1-4 mm. wide, with fine, appressed hairs on both surfaces or glabrous above; stipules triangular, 3-7 mm. long, clasping or free.
Flowers: Inflorescence of lax, 7- to 35-flowered racemes, the peduncles exceeding the leaves; flowers pea-like, 13-23 mm. long, white, drooping; calyx tube bell-shaped, 1.5 times as long as thick; calyx 7-9 mm. long, the 5 teeth 2.5-5 mm. long; banner reflexed; wings 2-4 mm. longer than the rounded keel; stamens 10.
Fruits: Pods with a short stipe, glabrous, green and reddish, obcompressed, nearly straight, 15-30 mm. long and 3-6 mm. wide and twice as thick, abruptly acute, 1-celled, but the lower suture nearly dividing the cavity.

Naming

Astragalus reventus
Cnemidophacos reventiformis

Distribution

East of the Cascades in Washington; Washington south to Sherman County in Oregon

Habitat

Shrub-steppe to low, dry open forests.