Salton milkvetch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Salton milkvetch |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Astragalus
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| Species: |
crotalariae
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The Salton milkvetch (scientific name: Astragalus crotalariae) is a cool plant found in the deserts of North America. It's a type of milkvetch, which is a group of plants often called "locoweeds" or "rattlepods." You can find it growing naturally in the Colorado Desert in California. It also lives in other Sonoran Desert areas, like parts of Arizona and northern Mexico. This plant loves sandy, scrubby desert places, especially around the Salton Sink in the Coachella Valley.
What Does Salton Milkvetch Look Like?
The Salton milkvetch is a bushy plant that comes back year after year. It can grow to be about 15 to 60 centimeters tall. That's roughly the height of a small dog! Its stems and leaves are a bit hairy, and the plant has a smell that some people find unpleasant.
Its leaves can be up to 16 centimeters long. Each leaf is made up of several pairs of smaller, thick leaflets. These leaflets are shaped like ovals or are nicely rounded.
When it blooms, the plant produces an open cluster of flowers. This cluster, called an inflorescence, can have up to 25 flowers. Each flower is a pretty reddish-purple color and measures about 2 to 3 centimeters long.
After the flowers, the plant grows a fruit. This fruit is a puffy legume pod, kind of like a pea pod. It can be up to 3 centimeters long. The pod is usually hairy and dries out to feel like thick paper.
A Special Plant: Selenium Accumulator
The Salton milkvetch has a unique ability. Like many other Astragalus plants, it can take in a lot of selenium from the soil. Selenium is a natural element found in the earth.
Scientists have also found something interesting inside its seed pods. There's a tiny type of bacteria called Bacillus that lives there. This bacteria helps the plant process the selenium it takes in.
