Astragalus cedreticola

Katran geveni

Plants 20-30 cm tall, branched at the base, covered with thin soft, tousled, spreading hairs up to 1 mm long. Stems prostrate or ascending at the base or erect, rather densely covered with very short and up to 1 mm long white, below the nodes also black hairs. Stipules green, 4-8 mm long, ovate, acute to shortly acuminate, free from the petiole, the lower ones vaginateconnate behind the stem often high up, the upper ones sometimes nearly free, all loosely covered with white and black hairs. Leaves 5-6 cm long; upper leaves with short petiole to subsessile, petiole of lower leaves 1.5-2.5 cm long, like the rachis sulcate at upper side, rather densely furnished with white hairs up to 0.5 mm long. Leaflets in 10-14 pairs, elliptic to obovate, 4-9 x 2-4 mm, widely retuse to widely emarginate at the apex, on upper side covered loosely to rather densely, on underside more densely with nearly spreading white hairs. Peduncles 4-10 cm long, finely striate, hairy like the stem. Racemes capitate to ovoid, densely 6-10-flowered, in fruit slightly elongated. Bracts green, narrowly triangular, 5-7 mm long, white and black hairy. Pedicels 0.5-1 mm long, hairy. Calyx 11-13 mm long, tubular to slightly inflated after anthesis, covered on the upper side predominantly with white, on the lower side with black spreading hairs; teeth subulate to linear-acute, 3.5-4 mm long, nearly glabrous on inner side. Petals bluish-violet. Standard 18 mm long; blade ca. 7 mm wide, rhombic-elliptic, widely emarginate at the apex, gradually narrowed into the cuneate claw at the base. Wings 14 mm long; blades nearly oblong, slightly gradually dilated toward the obliquely retuse apex, 7 x 2.5 mm; auricle wide, 0.5 mm long, claw 7 mm long. Keel 12 mm long; blades obliquely obovate, with in upper part widely curved lower edge and slightly curved upper edge, obtuse at the apex, 5x3 mm; auricle short, claw 7 mm long. Staminal-tube straightly cut. Ovary very shortly stipitate, elliptic, white-villous; style glabrous. Pods sessile, obliquely elliptic, with nearly straight ventral edge and widely curved dorsal edge, 10-12 mm long, 3.5 mm high, 2.5 mm wide, carinate ventrally, deeply grooved dorsally, attenuate at the apex into a short beak; valves thin, densely lanate, with ± spreading, thin, soft, tousled white hairs up to 3 mm long and with very short hairs. Fruit nearly fully biloculare, with ca. 5 seeds in each locule.

Endemic.