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Astragalus crassicarpus
Also called Ground Plum Milk Vetch, Buffalo Plum, Ground Plum
Groundplum milkvetch is a low, perennial native prairie legume of the Great Plains that is grown from seed in sunny, well-drained sites. Its key to success is full sun, sharp drainage and patience, since seed germinates slowly.
Astragalus crassicarpus, known as ground plum or buffalo plum, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, native to North America. It was described in 1813. The fruit is edible and was used by Native Americans as food and horse medicine. It is a host of afranius duskywing larvae. It is also known as groundplum milkvetch and pomme de prairie.
Ground plum has a large and deep taproot. It can only be grown from seed and it is also slow to germinate. The ripe seeds are glossy black with a very hard seed coat.
Astragalus crassicarpus grows primarily in the Great Plains of Canada and the United States, from British Columbia east to Ontario and south to Texas. It has been recorded as far east as Will County, Illinois, but whether it was originally native to this area or an introduction is unknown.
Chickpea milkvetch · Yellow Alpine Milkvetch · Licorice milkvetch · Gum tragacanth milkvetch · Freckled milkvetch · Mongolian Milkvetch · Woollypod milkvetch · Marsh milkvetch · Cream milkvetch · Astragalus sarcocolla · Chinese milk-vetch · Milkvetch
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Astragalus crassicarpus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
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.
