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Astragalus falcatus

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Astragalus falcatus

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Astragalus
Species:
A. falcatus
Binomial name
Astragalus falcatus
Synonyms[2]
List
    • Astragalus isetensis Willd. (1809)
    • Astragalus virescens Aiton (1789)
    • Craccina falcata (Lam.) Steven (1856)
    • Tragacantha falcata (Lam.) Kuntze (1891)

Astragalus falcatus is a species of milkvetch known by the common names Russian milkvetch, sickle milkvetch, sicklepod milkvetch, and silverleaf milkvetch. It is a flowering plant found primarily in meadows and grasslands and sometimes in open woodlands.

Description

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The plant has pure yellow, light yellow or creamy yellow flowers, sometimes tinged with purple. It grows 40 to 80 cm high with leaves 10 to 16 cm long which have between 8 and 20 pairs of narrow leaflets.

Uses

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A. falcatus has been cultivated experimentally for dryland grazing in the US and possibly in France, and was proposed as a forage crop in the USSR.[3] However, it is one of the milkweeds containing a poisonous glycoside identified as miserotoxin.[4]

References

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  1. ^ NatureServe (2024). "Astragalus falcatus". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Astragalus falcatus Lam". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  3. ^ Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: (Except Ornamentals), ed. Peter Hanelt, Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, with contributions by R. Büttner et al., 2nd ed. 1986, trans. ed. Berlin/New York: Springer, 2001, ISBN 9783540410171, p. 797.
  4. ^ Delena Tull, Edible and Useful Plants of the Southwest: Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, Austin: University of Texas, 2013, ISBN 9780292748279, n.p.

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