Powdery Milkvetch

Phaca cerussata (Sheldon) Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 32:665. 1906.
Astragalus triflorus Porter & Coult. Syn. Fl. Colo. 27, in part. 1874. Not A . triflorus A. Gray, 1853. Astragalus cerussatus Sheldon. Minn. Bot. Stud. 1: 139. 1894. Astragalus trijlorus cerussatus M. E. Jones. Rev. Astrag. pi. 11. 1923.
Perennial, stems erect to spreading, 2-3 dm. high, striate, sparingly pilose; leaves 4-8 cmlong, spreading; stipules deltoid, acuminate, 3-5 mm. long; leaflets 11-17, oblong to obovate> emarginate, 5-12 mm. long, villous-pilose on both sides or glabrate above; peduncles 4-6 cmlong; racemes 3-10-flowered, 2-4 cm. long; calyx pilose, the tube 2 mm. long, the lobes subulate. 2 mm. long; corolla tipped and veined with purple, 7-S mm. long; banner obovate, retuse and reflexed; wings slightly shorter, the blade oblong, with an acute basal auricle; keel-petals strongly arcuate, obtuse, with a rounded auricle; legume sessile, pilosulous, slightly tinged with purple, but not mottled, 1.5-2 cm. long, about 1 cm. wide; seeds obliquely round-reniform, 2 mm. long.
Type locality: Canon City. Colorado.
Distribution: Central and southern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.