Astragalus garbancillo
Fabaceae FAMILY

Astragalus garbancillo

Astragalus garbancillo

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

Many members of this genus contain toxic glycosides[ 65 Title A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. Publication Author Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. Publisher Wolfe Year 1984 ISBN 0723408394 Description Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far. ]. A number of species can accumulate toxic levels of selenium when grown in soils that are relatively rich in that element[ 65 Title A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. Publication Author Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. Publisher Wolfe Year 1984 ISBN 0723408394 Description Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far. ]. All species with edible seedpods can be distinguished by their fleshy round or oval seedpod that looks somewhat like a greengage.[ 85 Title Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. Publication Author Harrington. H. D. Publisher University of New Mexico Press Year 1967 ISBN 0-8623-0343-9 Description A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants. ]

Botanical Description

Astragalus garbancillo is a perennial plant with stems that are somewhat woody at their base. It produces stems from 10 - 50cm tall. The plant is used locally as an insecticide, to wash clothes and for medicinal purposes.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate; tropical
Native RangeS. America - Argentine, Chile, Peru, Bolivia.
HabitatCommon weedy shrub in open fields and on hedgerows along tracks at elevations above 2,000 metres in Peru[ 508 Title The Ethnobotany of Chinchero. Publication Fieldiana Botany New Series No. 24 Author Franquemont C. Et al Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Field Museum of Natural History. Year 1990 ISBN 0015-0746 Description Brief details on the local uses of plants for an Andean community in southern Peru. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ].