Astragalus microcephalus
Astragalus microcephalus
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 microcephalus is a very spiny, densely-branched shrub growing up to 40cm tall[ 74 Title Flora of the USSR. Publication Author Komarov. V. L. Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Israel Program for Scientific Translation Year 1968 ISBN - Description An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ]. This species is one of the main producers of tragacanth gum - a substance with many uses in medicine, as a food additive and in industry. It is harvsted from the wild in quantity and traded worldwide.