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Rupert Barneby, who passed away last winter at 87, is one of the best-

known plant systematists of our time. Hedescribed 621 new species and 371 newvarieties, many of which he discovered in the field—including the Holmgrenmilkvetch.

One late afternoon, in the spring of1979, driving down a dusty road on theArizona Strip, it was time to find a place to camp. Rupert had the perfect spot inmind, a place where he once stopped tocollect plants near St. George, Utah. As Idrove on I kept expecting him to tell mewhere to turn off, and finally I stopped atthe Utah border and asked if he still hadthis “perfect place” in mind. He reiteratedhow nice a place it was. “When were youlast there?” I asked.

A brief pause. “It was 1942. Why?” “Was it anywhere near the Virgin River?”

Holmgren milkvetch is adwarf, short-lived, tufted,stemless, perennial—and

wholly unassuming—member of thebean family. It is easily overlooked.Originally (and sometimes still)called paradox milkvetch, it was col-lected in 1941 by Melvin Ogden,who did not know that the specieswas undescribed. His specimen lan-guished in a herbarium for decades,possibly with an incorrect identifica-tion. No one took note of the modestmilkvetch again for 38 years. In1979, it was discovered by RupertBarneby and his fellow botanists,Drs. Patricia and Noel Holmgren;Barneby formally described thespecies and named it Astragalus holmgreniorum after his colleagues (see sidebar). He later joked that itwas still a “pair a docs” milkvetch.

Holmgren Milkvetch

KINGDOM Plantae

DIVISION Magnoliophyta

CLASS Magnoliopsida

SUBCLASS Rosidae

ORDER Fabales

FAMILY Fabaceae

GENUS Astragalus

SPECIES holmgreniorum

A Twice-Lost Legume?

“Yes,” he said, “it is a lovely place on the left bank of the Virgin River.”

Turning the truck around, I had to tell him what the last 37 years of urbansprawl had done to the town of St.George and the Virgin River. The lovelyplace he remembered was now coveredwith housing developments.

It was getting late so I took the firstside road, a pair of tire tracks headingacross the creosote bush desert. I chosean open, sparsely vegetated spot forcamp. Rupert was out the door before Icame to a stop. While maneuvering thetruck, I could hear Rupert shouting. Myfirst thought was that I had run over hisfoot. I quickly set the brake, jumped out,and ran around the truck. He was jump-ing up and down with excitement hold-ing a plant in his hand. My wife Pat justshrugged, “He says he has never seen

this species of Astragalus before.” Rupertwas ready to begin collecting; I wastired, hot, dusty, and hungry. I thought I doused his plans by saying “we can collect it after breakfast.”

The next morning, as usual, Ruperttook off on foot to explore. After Pat andI climbed out of the camper, we realizedthat Rupert’s evening had not ended asearly as ours. Next to each suitable plantwas a carefully placed rock cairn, thetallest and neatest stack of pebbles by theindividual which became the holotype forAstragalus holmgreniorum. I felt a twingeof guilt that I hadn’t let him collect theplants the previous night before supper.We made the collection and he namedthe plant for us, but the honor is all his.

Noel and Patricia Holmgren are authors ofIntermountain Flora, an eight-volume account ofthe vascular plants of the region that includes theGreat Basin and most of the Colorado Plateau.For an excellent biography of Rupert Barneby, seeDouglas Crase’s 2001 article in Brittonia,“Ruperti Imagines: A Portrait of Rupert Barneby”(53[1]: 1–40).

Rupert Barneby and the Discovery of the Holmgren Milkvetch BY NOEL H. HOLMGREN

Now, this warm-desert locoweedmay be lost forever, extinguished bybuildings, exotic annuals and grasses,cattle, and the wheels of off-roadvehicles.

The plant occurs on erosionalslopes and washes of gravelly lime-stone near St. George, Utah, and inneighboring Mohave County, Arizona.Compound leaves branch from theroot crown, and in April and May itsends up several pinkish-purple flow-ers with white-tipped wings. Thefruit pods are 1–2 inches long andfully open at both ends.

Holmgren milkvetch was placed onthe candidate list under the EndangeredSpecies Act as early as 1980—and (likehundreds of other candidates caught inthis legal limbo) there it stayed. Finally,in August of 2001, the Center forBiological Diversity and several other

ship and closed to all forms of human-related disturbances, the continuedexistence of this species is unlikely.”e

Joshua Brown is Wild Earth’s assistant editor. Long-time contributingartist D. D. Tyler used grades 7B to

Species Spotlight2H pencil to create this drawing. For 30years, she has interpreted natural history in book illustrations, paintings, posters,and over 100 t-shirt designs. Some shirtdesigns—to her delight—have been sold atthe Louvre, spotted around the world, andsported in a major motion picture.

groups reached a remarkable agree-ment with Interior Secretary GaleNorton to expedite the protection of29 highly endangered species acrossthe country. As part of the settlement,the milkvetch received a final listingon October 29, 2001. But it may be protected only on paper: the all-important delineation of “critical habitat” as required under the ESA will not begin until federal fundingbecomes available.

In the mean-time, just a fewthousandindividualsare left infour popu-lations—about halfof whichoccur onlandownedby theState ofUtah,near bur-geoning St.George. Sincemanagers of Utahstate lands are directedto maximize economicreturn, these lands will almostinevitably fall to urban development,and with them will go the Holmgrenmilkvetch. The warning of botanistRenee Van Buren, an expert on theplant, is stark:

“This species can be expected topersist only on federal lands maintainedin their wild state. Unless all federallycontrolled habitat of Astragalus holm-greniorum is retained in public owner-

Sources: Renee Van Buren, PhD, Biology Department, Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah Center for Biological Diversity, www.biologicaldiversity.org