Ozark Milkvetch, Bent Milkvetch
Astragalus distortus var. distortus
Found in shale barrens and other dry, shaley places, westwards in a variety of dry open and wooded habitats. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Mississippi. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 24%
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.
County records are not available.
Who uses this plant?
14CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Astragalus
- Abaeis mexicanaMexican Yellow, Wolf-Face Yellow
- 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
Show all 14
- Gesta baptisiaeWild Indigo Duskywing, Baptisia Duskywing
- Glaucopsyche lygdamusSilvery Blue
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
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
- Family not recorded
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
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Sources
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- Mississippi occurrence source
- 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