Sandhills Milkvetch

Tium michauxii (Kuntze) Rydberg
Astragalus glaber Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 66. 1803. Not .4. glaber Lam. 1783. Tragacantha Michauxii Kuntze. Rev. Gen. 941. 1891. Astragalus apilosus Sheldon, Minn. Bot. Stud. 1: 22. 1894. Tium apilosum Rydb.; Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 619, 1332. 1903.
A perennial, with a woody root; stem glabrous, simple, 5-10 dm. high, flexuose, sulcate; leaves 10-15 cm. long, spreading; stipules deltoid, 1 mm. long, spreading; leaflets 15-35, oblong or elliptic, firm, 5-15 mm. long, obtuse to retuse at the apex, glabrous or sparingly pilose on both sides; peduncles 5-10 cm. long; racemes lax, 4-10 cm. long; bracts lanceolate, 1-2 mm. long; pedicels 2 mm. long; flowers drooping; calyx minutely strigose, the tube 5 mm. long, 3 mm. wide; corolla white, 12-15 mm. long; banner obovate, notched, moderately arched at the middle; wings shorter, the blade obliquely oblanceolate, somewhat falcate, with a large reflexed auricle; keel-petals nearly as long, the blade lunate, obtuse; pod nearly sessile, linear-falcate, acute at each end, cross-reticulate, glabrous, 2-3 cm. long, 4-5 mm. wide and thick, coriaceous, rounded-cordate in cross-section, the septum 1 mm. wide and thick; seeds obliquely reniform,
3 mm. long.
Type locality: Georgia.
Distribution: North Carolina to Florida.

Perennial, Herbs, Stems woody below, or from woody crown or caudex, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems erect or ascending, Stems less than 1 m tall, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules green, triangulate to lanceolate or foliaceous, Stipules membranous or chartaceous, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Leaves compound, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets alternat e or subopposite, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Inflorescence or flowers lax, declined or pendulous, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx hairy, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals clawed, Petals white, Petals pinkish to rose, Banner petal narrow or oblanceolate, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel petals auriculate, spurred, or gibbous, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens diadelphous, 9 united, 1 free, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Style persistent in fruit, Fruit a legume, Fruit stipitate, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit elongate, straight, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit strongly curved, falcate, bent, or lunate, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit beaked, Fruit glabrous or glabrate, Fruit 11-many seeded, Seeds cordiform, mit-shaped, notched at one end, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.