{{Short description|Species of milkvetch}} {{Speciesbox | image = Astragalus harbisonii 317923288.jpg | image_caption = ''A. harbisonii'' at the type locality of Punta Baja | genus = Astragalus | species = harbisonii | authority = Barneby }}
'''''Astragalus harbisonii''''' is a species of short-lived perennial plant in the family Fabaceae commonly known as the '''Punta Baja milkvetch.''' It is endemic to the Punta Baja peninsula in the Mexican state of Baja California and the immediate surrounding coastline.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Astragalus harbisonii Barneby |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/5346696 |access-date=2023-08-04 |website=www.gbif.org |language=en}}</ref> It is named after Charles F. Harbison, curator of entomology at the San Diego Natural History Museum from 1942 to 1969.<ref name="powell">{{cite journal |last1=Powell |first1=Jerry A. |date=2011 |title=Charles F. Harbison (1904-1989) Pied Piper of southern California junior naturalists |journal=Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=273–276 |doi=10.18473/lepi.v65i4.a11 |s2cid=86963143 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This species is characterized by connate stipules and sessile bladdery pods, traits that it shares with ''Astragalus anemophilus'', but the two species can be distinguished by their indumentum and distinct flowers.<ref name="Barneby1953">{{Cite journal |last=Barneby |first=Rupert C. |date=1953 |title=New Species of Astragalus |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47013#page/48 |journal=Leaflets of Western Botany |publisher=J. T. Howell |publication-place=San Francisco |volume=7 |pages=34–35 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref>
== Taxonomy == ''Astragalus harbisonii'' was described by botanist and noted Fabaceae expert Rupert C. Barneby in 1953, based on a specimen collected by Charles F. Harbison.<ref name="Barneby1953" /> Harbison, the namesake of the species, was the curator of entomology at the San Diego Natural History Museum.<ref name="powell" /> thumb|With fruit In 1964, Barneby would later place this species in ''Astragalus'' section ''Anemophili'', grouping it with ''Astragalus anemophilus'' and ''Astragalus miguelensis''. This section is similar to ''Astragalus'' sect. ''Inflati'' in regards to the sessile, bladdery pods of the species, but sect. ''Anemophili'' is distinguished by the softly tomentose indumentum and connate stipules of its species.<ref name="Barneby1964">{{Cite journal |last=Barneby |first=Rupert C. |date=1964 |title=Atlas of North American Astragalus |url=https://willow.nybg.org/record=b1037272 |journal=Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden |volume=13}}</ref>
=== Characteristics === Compared with ''Astragalus anemophilus'', the two species share the connate stipules and sessile bladdery pods, but differ in a number of traits. ''Astragalus harbisonii'' has a villous-tomentose indumentum on the foliage, a strigose indumentum on the pods, smaller pods with less ovules, and differs in the shape, proportion, and lilac color of the flowers.<ref name="Barneby1953" /><ref name="Barneby1964" />
In regards to the shape, form, and proportion of the flowers, ''A. harbisonii'' more closely agrees with ''Astragalus miguelensis'' of the Channel Islands of California and ''Astragalus magdalenae'', another maritime species native to the Baja California Peninsula. However, ''A. magdalenae'' is distinguished by its free stipules and satin-like indumentum on the foliage, and ''A. miguelensis'' has a consistently tomentose indumentum on the foliage and more ovules.<ref name="Barneby1953" /><ref name="Barneby1964" />
==Distribution & habitat== thumb|At the Arroyo El Rosario ''Astragalus harbisonii'' is found in coastal fog desert on the northern central Baja California coast, occupying the coastal deserts immediately following the transition zone between California coastal sage scrub to the north and the drier Baja California desert. It was described from Punta Baja, a small cape south of El Rosario, but records exist as far north as at least the mouth of the Arroyo el Rosario.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Occurrence Detail 4129856321 |url=https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/4129856321 |access-date=2023-08-04 |website=www.gbif.org |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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harbisonii Category:Endemic flora of Mexico Category:Flora of Baja California Category:Taxa named by Rupert Charles Barneby