Astragalus monoensis
Encyclopedia
Astragalus monoensis is a rare species of milkvetch
Astragalus
Astragalus is a large genus of about 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. The genus is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

 known by the common name Mono milkvetch. It is endemic to the open pumice
Pumice
Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...

 plains of central Mono County, California
Mono County, California
Mono County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of California, to the east of the Sierra Nevada between Yosemite National Park and Nevada. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,202, up from 12,853 at the 2000 census...

. This is a rhizomatous
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...

 perennial herb with stems growing partly underground and emerging to lie flat on the sand. The leaves are up to 3 centimeters long and are made up of several tiny oval-shaped leaflets. Stem and leaflets are hairy. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a cluster of 6 to 12 very pale pink to yellowish flowers, each around a centimeter long. The fruit is a legume pod, curved to bent in shape and drying to a papery, hairy texture. It is 1.5 to 2 centimeters in length and contains around 18 to 20 seeds in its two chambers.

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