Sprawling stems 12–18-inches long with ends arching upward and densely covered with soft, silvery hair often form thick clumps with numerous spikes of pinkish-purple flowers. Note the plant is densely white-hairy throughout with fuzzy pods. Addictive alkaloids in the foliage cause deadly “locoweed poisoning” in livestock.

FLOWERS: March–July. Elongated cluster (raceme) with 7–45 flowers on tip of a 1–10-inch long (3–25 cm), leafless stem (peduncle); flowers pea-like, purple to lavender or pink (rarely yellow or creamy), 1/2–1-inch long (12–25 mm) with 5 petals: 1 upper banner has a white center with red lines, 2 side wings point forward with tips (often white) extending beyond 2 keel petals. Pods sessile (no stem), oval to elliptic, 3/8–1-inch long (9–25 mm), densely fuzzy-hairy, crowded along spike, not an inflated bladder.

LEAVES: Alternate, pinnately compound, to 11 inches (28 cm) long, usually arching upward, with 15–35 small leaflets spaced along midrib; leaflets oval, to 3/4 inch long (2 cm), densely white-hairy.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, loam soils, roadsides, disturbed areas; desert scrub and grasslands, sage brushlands, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,500–8,800 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, KS, NE, NV, NM, OK, SD, TX, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 6 varieties of A. mollissimus in NM (Allred, 2020) with variations in flower color, plant hair, and size, including 2 with hairless pods. The white, woolly-hairy leaves, stem, and pods help identify most varieties of this species. More than 75 Astragalus species in NM with similar pea-like flowers. Many require pods for identification. Missouri Milkvetch, A. missouriensis, has similar leaf and flower characteristics, but pods have flat-lying (not fuzzy) hairs.

NM COUNTIES: Statewide in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats.