Cooper's Milkvetch
Astragalus neglectus
Found in lakeshores, riverbanks, shady ravines, calcareous woodlands and barrens, often over dolostone or limestone. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 35%
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to average
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 1 West Virginia county.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Who uses this plant?
14CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · 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
- Glaucopsyche lygdamusSilvery 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
- Family not recorded
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| WV 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
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- West Virginia 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