Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Astragalus nuttallii is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Nuttall's milkvetch. It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in the sandy soils of coastal habitat. This is a perennial herb forming thick, tangled clumps of hairy to hairless stems up to a meter in length. The abundant leaves are up to 17 centimeters in length and made up of many oval-shaped leaflets. The inflorescence is a large, dense body of up to 125 flowers, each around 1 to 1. 5 centimeters long. The flowers are dull cream-colored and sometimes purple-tinted. The fruit is an inflated legume pod up to 6 centimeters long which dries to a papery texture and contains many seeds in its single chamber. One variety of this species, the ocean bluff milkvetch (var. nuttallii) is endemic to the Central Coast of California.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

8 - 40 in Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Green

Special uses

Deer resistant

Plant communities

Coastal Strand

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

1 confirmed and 18 likely

Confirmed Likely

Western Tailed-Blue

Cupido amyntula

Alfalfa Looper Moth

Autographa californica

Orange Sulphur

Colias eurytheme

Harford's Sulphur

Colias harfordii