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Santa Barbara Milk Vetch
Astragalus trichopodus
  
About Santa Barbara Milk Vetch (Astragalus trichopodus) 5 Nurseries Carry This Plant Astragalus trichopodus is a species of legume known by the common name Santa Barbara milk vetch. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in several types of open habitat. This is a robust perennial herb producing a branching stem up to about a meter in maximum height. The hairy stem is lined with many leaves each up to 20 centimeters long which are made up of several pairs of widely-spaced lance-shaped leaflets each up to 2.5 centimeters in length. The flower cluster is a raceme of up to 50 flowers which are cream colored and sometimes tinted with light purple. Each flower is 2 or 3 centimeters long including its tubular base of sepals. The fruit is a laterally compressed, slightly inflated legume pod up to 4 or 5 centimeters long which dries to a papery texture. The fruits hang in bunches where they develop from the flower cluster. Each pod contains many seeds.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Perennial herb

Size
Size
0.7 - 3.3 ft tall
3.3 - 4.9 ft wide

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Fast

Flower Color
Flower Color
Cream

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Winter, Spring

Wildlife Supported
 
Butterflies: Queen Alexandra's Sulphur, Reakirt's Blue, Arrowhead Blue, Marine Blue

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun

Moisture
Moisture
Very Low

Nurseries
Nurseries

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Moderately Easy

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast

Soil Description
Soil Description
Prefers well-draining soil. Soil PH: 4.8 - 8.2

Propagation
Propagation?
For propagating by seed: No treatment.

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
open grassy places, bluffs, rocky places

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 5.8" - 46.5", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 2.30", Coldest Month: 35.2" - 57.2", Hottest Month: 61.2" - 80.3", Humidity: 0.58" - 29.30", Elevation: -17" - 5333"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Santa Barbara Milk-vetch, Santa Barbara Milkvetch


Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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