Relatives
Astragalus davuricus (Pallas) DC. - Daurian Milk-vetch, Steven.s Milk-vetch.
Taxonomic position.
Family Fabaceae Lindl., genus Astragalus L.Synonyms.
Astragalus stevenianus DC., Phaca davurica Pallas, Galega davurica Pall., Tephrosia davurica Pers., Astragalus achtalensis Conrath & Freyn, A. applicatus Boriss., A. conrathii Freyn, A. dahuricus Koch, A. ispirensis Boiss., A. junceus Ledeb., A. kochianus Sosn.Morphology and biology.
Annual or biennial plant 15-65 cm tall. Stems erect, adpressedly hairy. Leaves 4-8 cm long, on short petioles or subsessile, with 5-9 pairs of oblong-elliptic or lanceolate leaflets 7-15 mm long, long-patent-hairy or glabrous above. Peduncles 1-4 cm long, together with inflorescence usually longer than leaves. Flowers lilac-purple, in lax many-flowered raceme elongating after flowering. Bracts narrow-linear. Calyx campanulate, 5-7 mm long, obliquely cut. Pods erect, narrow-linear, 1.5 cm long, falcately bent, finely adpressedly hairy, bilocular. Cross-pollinated entomophilous plant. Flowers in June - September, fruits in July - September. 2n=16.Distribution.
Siberia, Far East.Ecology.
Flood-plain and upland meadows, fallows, steppes. On sandy soils.Economic value.
Forage plant. Leaves and stems contain up to 0.1 % alkaloids.References:
Grossheim AA. 1952. Flora of Caucasus. 2nd ed. V.5. P.245-335. (In Russian).Shishkin BK., ed. 1946. Flora URSS. V.12. Moscow; Leningrad. 919 p. (In Russian).
Polozhij AV., Malyshev LI., ed. 1994. Flora of Siberia. V.9. Fabaceae (Leguminosae). Novosibirsk: Nauka. 280 p. (In Russian).
Malyshev LI., Peshkova GA., eds. 1979. Flora of the Central Siberia. V.2. 506 p. (In Russian).
Cherepanov SK. 1995. Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR). St.Petersburg. 990 p. (In Russian).
Roskov YR. et al. 2005. ILDIS World Database of Legumes. [Online] Available at: http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb?sciname=Astragalus%20stevenianus .