General: Nye Milkvetch (Astragalus nyensis) is a prostrate, hairy annual forb with pinnately divided leaves. Small pea-flowers are white with purple highlights, and the seedpods are relatively long and laterally flattened.

Nye Milkvetch is an uncommon component of desert vegetation in the Mojave Desert Scrub community on soils with high silt and sand contents. Around Las Vegas, look for this species northeast of town in Dry Lake Valley.

Family: Fabaceae (Legume).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Prostrate annual.

Height: About 1 inch, but spreading to about 10-inches across.

Stems: Prostrate, covered with a fine hairs.

Leaves: About 1-2 inches long, pinnately divided with about 9 leaflets, each to about 1/2 inch long.

Flowers: Blooms in the spring. Flowers small, pea-like, white with pale purple veins and highlights.

Seeds: Seed pod about 1-inch long, flattened in cross-section.

Habitat: Desert flats with high mud content.

Elevation: To about 1,100 to 5,600 ft.

Distribution: Nevada endemic: occurs only in Clark, Lincoln, and Nye counties.

Comments: Nye milkvetch is listed as sensitive on the Nevada Heritage Program Sensitive List. The conservation status rank is G3-S3 (Vulnerable: At moderate risk of extinction due to a restricted range, relatively few populations (often 80 or fewer), recent and widespread declines, or other factors). Nye milkvetch has been considered for inclusion on the Federal Endangered Species List.