ASTRAGALUS-TORTIPES (FABACEAE), A NEW SPECIES FROM DESERT BADLANDS IN SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO AND ITS PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN ASTRAGALUS

Astragalus tortipes is a new species from the southern flank of Sleeping Ute Mountain in southwestern Colorado that grows with mixed desert scrub on Mancos Shale badlands overlain by pediment gravel. Based on phylogenetic estimations using parsimony, the new species is placed as a member of Barneby's sect. Lonchocarpi subsect. Lonchocarpi and is compared morphologically to other astragali. Astragalus tortipes is characterized by its hyper-reflexed pod, a character unique in North American Astragalus.