Index / Search / Astragalus purshii
§1 Plant — species · Fabaceae
Astragalus purshii Douglas ex Hook.
vernacular woollypod milkvetch
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Fabaceae Lindl.
- Genus
- Astragalus
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- Low
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -33 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 80 min.
- Precipitation
- 10–20 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.6–7.5
- Root depth
- 10 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 0.6 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Gray-Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- Black
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- Medium
- Toxicity
- Slight
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 120,000
- Propagation
- seed
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- No Known Source
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Medium
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 39 of 56 Montana counties.
Native · 39 counties
- Beaverhead 30001
- Big Horn 30003
- Blaine 30005
- Broadwater 30007
- Carbon 30009
- Carter 30011
- Cascade 30013
- Chouteau 30015
- Custer 30017
- Daniels 30019
- Dawson 30021
- Fergus 30027
- Gallatin 30031
- Garfield 30033
- Glacier 30035
- Golden Valley 30037
- Granite 30039
- Hill 30041
- Jefferson 30043
- Lewis and Clark 30049
- Liberty 30051
- Madison 30057
- Meagher 30059
- Missoula 30063
- Musselshell 30065
- Park 30067
- Petroleum 30069
- Phillips 30071
- Powder River 30075
- Roosevelt 30085
- Rosebud 30087
- Sheridan 30091
- Stillwater 30095
- Teton 30099
- Toole 30101
- Treasure 30103
- Valley 30105
- Wibaux 30109
- Yellowstone 30111
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/ASPU9 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/8230673 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z