Astragalus humillimus
Fabaceae (Pea Family)

The Astragalus genus is large and complex.  In Colorado Flora, Western Slope William Weber lists over five dozen species with many sub-species.  In Intermountain Flora Arthur Cronquist lists 156 species and 122 varieties!  World-wide there are about 1600 species.

   The genus was named by Linnaeus in 1753; the word "Astragalus" means "ankle bone" in Greek.  It is an ancient Greek plant name perhaps given because of  the seed shape in some members of the Astragalus genus or, the authors of  Intermountain Flora conjecture, because the Greeks used rattling bones for dice and the sound made is similar to the rattling of dry Astragalus seeds in the pod.