Phaca pychnostachya

Phaca pychnostachya (A. Gray) Rydberg
Astragalus pychnostachyus A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 6: 527. 1865. Tragacantha pychnostachya Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 947. 1891.
Perennial; stem sometimes woody below, 5-10 dm. high, often tinged with brown or purple, more or less short-villous, canescent; leaves 5-15 cm. long, spreading, the rachis villous-canescent ; stipules scarious, distinct, deltoid, acuminate, 4—5 mm. long ; leaflets 1 5-33, rather crowded, elliptic or oblong, 1-2 cm. long, 2-7 mm. wide, densely villous-canescent, obtuse or mucronate; peduncles 3-5 cm. long, stiff, nearly erect; racemes dense, 3-5 cm. long, the flowers and fruit densely crowded; calyx villous, the tube somewhat gibbous above, 4 mm. long, the lobes subulate, 2 mm. long; corolla ochroleucous; banner obovate, only slightly exceeding the other petals; blade of the wing-petals obliquely obovate, with a large basal auricle, about equaling the claw; keel-petals similar, but more arcuate and with a smaller auricle; pod ovoid (originally described as turgid-lenticular), beaked, 1 cm. long, 5-6 mm. broad, glabrous, somewhat reticulate; seeds brown, obliquely round-reniform, 2.5 mm. long.
Type locality: Baulinas [Bolinas] Bay, California. Distribution: Central and southern California, near the coast.