Author: navidcod 
Astragalus microphysa Boiss
Hamideh Javadi and Parvin Salehi Shanjani
Natural Resources Gene Bank, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Tehran, Iran.
Uploaded at August 2021
Scientific editors: Valiollah Mozaffarian and Masoumeh Izadpanah
Seed Storage
The storage behavior of this species is orthodox (desiccation-tolerant seeds); dry to 15-20% eRH and store at -20 °C.
Germination requirements
The seeds have physical-physiological dormancy and this is related to seed coat and inhibitors. To remove the seed coat, different methods of scarification can be used (sandpaper, sulfuric acid, hot water, etc.). To break dormancy, stratification with pre-chilling (for 14 days), ultrasonic waves, and hormones (Gibberellic acid 100 ppm) are efficient. The best method for breaking dormancy is rubbing the seeds with sandpaper and moist chilling (14 days at 4 °C). Then germinate under a constant temperature of 20 ºC or alternating temperature 25 ºC (16 hours of light) and 15 ºC (8 hours of dark).
Morphology
Fruit: Pod ovate or elliptic, tip acute or obtuse, densely hairy, glabrous at the middle, beaky, curved.
Fruit size: Length: 3.5-4 mm, width: 1.5-2 mm, thickness: 2-3mm.
Seed: Ellipsoid to reniform, surface glabrous, hilum round with bright border, yellow to light brown with or without brown spots.
Seed size: Length: 3.79-4.26 mm, width: 2.71-2.91mm in an accession from Daran, Esfahan with 1000 seeds weight 9.5 g, which was collected in 2002, and the cultivated sample was identified by S. Reza Safavi with accession code 8564.
1000 seed weight: 9.5-10.1 g.
Biological features
Life form: Bush, hedgehog, stem erect with thin divisions.
Inflorescence, flower type, and pollination mechanism: Inflorescence capitule, wide oval to round. Flowers hermaphrodite, 5-merous, zygomorphic, calyx tubular to a bell shape, white to yellow sometimes red during the flowering stage, oval or elliptic white to yellow with red spots during the fruiting period, corolla white to yellow. Plant monoecious, cross-pollinate. Pollination is carried out by insects and wind.
Time of flowering: May
Time of seed ripening: May to June
Seed dispersal methods: The seeds are displaced by the weight
Geographical distribution: Endemic of Iran. Typus from Bakhtiyari, Zard Mountain.
Distribution in Iran: West and center. Lorestsn, Yazd, Esfahan, Chaharmahale and Bakhtiyari, Fars and Tehran.
Taxonomy
Family: Papilionaceae
Genus: Astragalus
Species: microphysa
Common name: Locoweed
References and Links
Asri, Y. 2012. Range Plants of Iran, Vol. 2: Dicotyledons. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands Publication, 530 pp.
Baskin, C.C. and Baskin, J.M.1998. Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography, Evolution of Dormancy and Germination. Academic Press, San Diego.
Bewley, J.D. 1997. Seed germination and dormancy. The plant cell, 9: 1055-1066.
Bakhshandeh Faraj-pur, A. 2014. Investigating the possibility of increasing the germination of several species (Astragalus) using various methods of dormancy in order to multiply massive and regenerate rangelands. Master’s thesis, University of Kashan, Faculty of Engineering.
Kožuharova, E. and Firmage, D. 2007. On The Pollination Ecology of Astragalus alopecurus Pallas (Fabaceae) in Bulgaria. Tome, 60(8): 863-870.
Kožuharova, E., Tzvetanova, V. and Firmage, D. 2010. Seed germination and seedling development of two rare Astragalus species (Fabaceae). Phytologia Balcanica, 16 (1): 51-56.
Maassoumi, A.A. 2016. Flora of Iran, No.145: (Papilionaceae: Astragalus II). Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands Publication, p. 207.
Mozaffarian, V. 2012. A Pictorial Dictionary of Botany. Farhange Moaser publisher, 1088 pp.
