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Photo by Ben Franklin
Photo Courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources; Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Deseret Milkvetch
Astragalus desereticus
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G1
State (S-rank): S2
External links
Species range
ASTRAGALUS DESERETICUS is endemic to central Utah and known from only one occurrence in the Thistle Creek Valley near the town of Birdseye in Utah County. Occupied habitat is approximately 100 acres. It was first collected "below Indianola" on 2 June 1893 by Marcus E. Jones. Another collection, later designated by Barneby (1964) as the type specimen, was made on 17 June 1909 by Ivar Tidestrom on "slopes near Indianola." Despite numerous attempts to relocate the species (e.g., Barneby 1964), it remained obscure until its rediscovery on 28 May 1981 by Elizabeth Neese at its currently known location (Welsh and others 1987, Franklin 1990). The town of Indianola is actually in Sanpete County near the Utah County line, but whether the Jones and Tidestrom collections were made in Sanpete County is open to question. The Jones collection in particular is labeled "below" Indianola, presumably placing it downstream along the Thistle Creek drainage and therefore in Utah County (Franklin 1991). There are no recent collections or known occurrences of ASTRAGALUS DESERETICUS from Sanpete County, and it is likely that the two historical collections were made near the known location at Birdseye.
Threats or limiting factors
The species occurs in only a very localized area of Utah where it is endemic. One of the largest past threats to this species was habitat loss, but a large number of populations occur on the Birdseye Wildlife Management Unit. A conservation agreement maintains these plants with very little anthropormorphic threats (grazing, recreation, ect). A few individuals were impacted by fire recently. Invasive plants and drought are continuing to impact this species.
