Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Astragalus austiniae is a species of milkvetch known by the common name Austin's milkvetch. It is native to the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe. It is a plant of the alpine climate of the high mountains, where it tolerates exposed areas. Astragalus austiniae is a dwarfed perennial herb forming small clumps in the rock litter no taller than about 11 centimeters. Stems and foliage are coated densely in cottony, silvery hairs. The leaves are up to 5 centimeters long and are made up of several keeled oval-shaped leaflets. The inflorescence is a woolly headlike cluster of 4 to 14 pink or purple-tinted white pealike flowers each around a centimeter long. Astragalus austiniae is a dwarfed perennial herb forming small clumps in the rock litter no taller than about 11 centimeters. Stems and foliage are coated densely in cottony, silvery hairs. The leaves are up to 5 centimeters long and are made up of several keeled oval-shaped leaflets. The inflorescence is a woolly headlike cluster of 4 to 14 pink or purple-tinted white pealike flowers each around a centimeter long. The fruit is a woolly legume pod less than a centimeter long.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

4 in Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Pink, White, Purple

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 15 likely

Confirmed Likely

Alfalfa Looper Moth

Autographa californica

Orange Sulphur

Colias eurytheme

Clouded Sulphur

Colias philodice

Western Tailed-Blue

Cupido amyntula