Astragalus dactylocarpus Boiss.
Eng.: Milkvetch. Fre.: Astragale.
Subshrub or hemicryptophyte with woody base, 20-50 cm in height, slightly spiny due to the old rigid and persistent leaf petioles, with stems ± herbaceous, erect or ascending, covered by rigid applied hairs that give it a whitish appearance. Leaves 10-18 cm, with stipules 1-1.5 cm, triangular, membranous, persistent; with rigid rachis and petioles, petioles about 2 mm wide tapering toward the apex, persistent, not too sharp; with 15-30 pairs of leaflets, 0.4-1.2 × 0.3-0.4 cm, oblong-ovate, obtuse or retuse. Inflorescences in axillary racemes, with peduncles 1-5 cm and 2-5, with subsessile flowers. Calyx 1.4-1.6 cm, with 3-4 mm teeth, finely villous. Corolla 2.5-3.2 cm, papilionoid, yellow. Androecium diadelphous. Ovary stipitate. Pod (5)6-8.5 × 0.8 cm, stipitate, cylindrical, compressed, rarely inflated, woody, slightly arched and attenuated into a small sharp beak, surface longitudinally venose and reticulated, greenish or reddish, with 3-8 seeds. Seeds 5-6 mm, ± rectangular, flattened and brown.
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
June to September.
Habitat:
Sandy plains and wadis in desert areas.
Distribution:
Sinai, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, Iraq.
Observations:
A subspecies has been described, subsp. acinaciferus (Boiss.) Eug.Ott, which does not seem be very consistent, and would correspond to specimens from the eastern Mediterranean and also to those present in Egypt (Sinai).
Other similar species, spiny chamaephytes small in size, are:
A. ibrahimianus Maire (A. ochroleucus Coss.). is a cushion-shaped chamaephytes, spiny, 20-30 cm in height. Spines green-yellowish when young, derived from the rachis of compound leaves, paripinnate, with (4)6-8 pairs of oval leaflets, whitish tomentose. Flowers an intense yellow. Calyx campanulate, pubescent, with a reddish base and yellowish-green tip with wide triangular teeth. Endemic to the high mountains of Morocco (2,200-3,400 m), in the NE Middle Atlas, central High Atlas and the Jebel Sirwa. It grows in mountain areas of limestone pastures.
A. tragacantha L. [A. massiliensis (Mill.) Lam.]. is a cushion-shaped spiny plant, with paripinnate leaves, with 6-12 pairs of leaflets, villous-whitish, and inflorescences in racemes of 3-8 white flowers. It grows in the main central Mediterranean islands and in some mountains of central Tunisia (Jebel Kesra, Jebel Orbata). A coastal plant, typical of windy cliffs. Its presence in Algeria is doubtful.
Conservation status:
These species are not very common but do not appear to be threatened. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.