Index / Search / Astragalus cicer

§1 Plant — species · Fabaceae

Astragalus cicer L.

vernacular chickpea milkvetch


USDA
ASCI4
GBIF
5343253
Rank
species
chickpea milkvetch (Astragalus cicer)
Platephotograph · Tatyana ZaruboCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus
Astragalus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Introduced
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-43 °F minimum
Frost-free days
115 min.
Precipitation
16–60 in/yr
pH range
6–8.5
Root depth
16 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Rhizomatous
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
3 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
White
Fruit colour
Yellow
Fire resistant
Yes
N fixation
High
Toxicity
Slight
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Summer
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
122,560
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
Medium
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
High
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Montana distribution

Recorded in 16 of 56 Montana counties.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ASCI4 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5343253 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z