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Astragalus bisulcatus
Also called Two Groove Milk Vetch, Two Grooved Milk Vetch, Two Grooved Milkvetch, Two Groove Milkvetch
Astragalus bisulcatus, commonly called two-grooved milkvetch or silver-leafed milkvetch, is a leafy perennial with pea-like flowers. It is native to central and western North America, and typically grows on selenium-rich soils. It accumulates selenium within its tissues, and when livestock consume it, the selenium can be toxic.
Astragalus bisulcatus accumulates large quantities of selenium: when grown on soils that have selenium, the plant produces amino acids where sulfur is replaced by selenium. Most animals avoid Astragalus bisulcatus because of the musky odor of the dimethyl selenium compounds contained in the plants tissues. Yet, sheep and cattle have indulged in eating the plant, becoming victims of selenium toxicity. Sheep can die in thirty minutes from eating a half a pound of Astragalus bisulcatus, and in 1907 and 1908, approximately 15,000 sheep in Wyoming died with symptoms of either alkali disease or the blind staggers; both of which were outcomes of digesting a large amount of selenium from Astragalus bisulcatus.
Astragalus aboriginum · Rogue River milkvetch · Sharp-leaved Milk Vetch · Sharpkeel milkvetch · Humboldt County milkvetch · Purple milkvetch · Cushenbury milkvetch · Astragalus alopecurus · Alpine milkvetch · Crescent milkvetch · Hermit Milkvetch · Anderson's milkvetch
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Astragalus bisulcatus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
