Click to read about the Astragalus genus.

Foothills, montane.  Moist meadows, streamsides, woodland openings.  Spring, summer.
Abajo Mountains, Utah, June 12, 2009.

Astragalus agrestis is found in almost all western U. S. states and Canadian provinces.  In the Four Corners area it is found in San Juan County, Utah, and Dolores County, Colorado.

Astragalus agrestis enjoys areas that are moist in the spring and early summer.  The plant has tight clusters of ascending flowers and this characteristic combined with its habit of spreading over large areas through its rhizomes, does, in Stanley Welsh's words "set [it] ... apart from others in the [Astragalus] genus in North America", although its sod-forming tendency does ally it with A. alpinus. 

The plant was named by David Douglas in the description written by Georg Don in 1832 from a collection made by Douglas in 1827.  "Agri" is Latin for "field".

Astragalus agrestis (Field Milkvetch)
Fabaceae (Pea Family)

Foothills, montane.  Moist meadows, streamsides, woodland openings.  Spring, summer.
Abajo Mountains, Utah, June 12, 2009.

Astragalus agrestis (Field Milkvetch)
Fabaceae (Pea Family)

Foothills, montane.  Moist meadows, streamsides, woodland openings.  Spring, summer.
Sanborn Park Road, Uncompahgre National Forest, August, 2013 and Abajo Mountains, Utah, September 6, 2013.

Tightly clustered, erect seed pods covered with a multitude of soft, appressed, white hairs are up to one centimeter long and dry hard and dark, but start off soft and green.

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Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Astragalus agrestis