Bearded Milkvetch; Southern Milkvetch
Astragalus villosus
Found in longleaf pine sandhills and other dry, sandy places. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
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Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 35 Florida counties.
Habitats
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
14CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Astragalus
- Abaeis nicippeSleepy Orange, Sleepy Yellow, Erratic Orange
- Cecropterus bathyllusSouthern Cloudywing
- Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Colias philodiceClouded Sulphur, Clover Butterfly
- Cupido comyntasEastern Tailed-Blue
- Dicymolomia julianalisJulia's Dicymolomia
- Digrammia eremiataThree-Lined Angle
- Epargyreus clarusSilver-Spotted Skipper
- Gesta baptisiaeWild Indigo Duskywing, Baptisia Duskywing
Show all 14
- Hemiargus ceraunusCeraunus Blue, Antillean Blue
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Walshia miscecolorellaSweetclover Root Borer Moth
7BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Astragalus
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
1Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Astragalus
- Anthidium clypeodentatum
4BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Astragalus
- Alectoris chukarChukar
- Centrocercus urophasianusGreater Sage-Grouse
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- FABACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications