Astragalus panamintensis, the panamint milkvetch! Saw a bunch of this beautiful little Astragalus growing from carbonate rock outcroppings at mid-elevation in the Last Chance Range yesterday. This species can’t be confused with any other. Its growth habit and flowers are unique in the region. It also has a pretty specific habitat of cracks in carbonate cliffs, ledges and rocky talus beneath them. Its entire range is almost restricted to Inyo County, California, with it extending just across the border into Nevada. I ended up almost summiting the peak of the Last Chance Range by accident. I went out to the area to find a specific plant, but then when I found it I decided to keep going up because I saw other cool plants. I did that until I was at about 8250 feet up and less than a mile from the peak. At that point I figured I might as well try and go to the top! But… I didn’t bring any food and very little water for a long and steep hike, just enough to get to that one plant down low. So after I got up the last steepest climb, my vision kinda went black and I got really light headed. I definitely didn’t eat enough food for the amount of work I did, so I started feeling really sick. Then anxiety attack in the middle of nowhere! Yay! So I decided to head back down, even though I was so close. Just means I’ll have to come back up later and actually try to get there on purpose. Plus more stuff will be blooming! There was still some snow up there on the north facing slopes! #Astragaluspanamintensis #Astragalus #panamintmilkvetch #milkvetch #fabaceae #botany #botanizing #plantsofinstagram #plantsmakepeoplehappy #lastchancerange #californianativeplants #plants
Astragalus panamintensis!! Just learned about this badass plant about a week ago after @crime_pays_but_botany_doesnt found some in the Mojave desert mountains (check out his page and follow him, he’s hilarious and is always out there finding rare plants and does great write ups). It’s an uncommon plant with a small and scattered range but wouldn’t you know it, we just found a ton of it blooming in the Funeral Mountains on an isolated section of the range. As far as I can tell, it’s the first time this species has ever been reported in the Funeral Mountains. It likes to grow out of cracks in exposed limestone and other related calcareous rocks. Astragalus is very diverse in the desert mountains so I’m happy to continually encounter different species, but this one is so different in form from the others out here. A real gem of a plant, poking out of rocky crevices. #astragaluspanamintensis #astragalus #panamintmilkvetch #funeralmountains #deathvalley #ilovepubliclands #desertflora #mojavedesert #fabaceae #botany #botanyisbitchin #cnps #californianativeplants #calflora #californianativeplantsociety #limestone