Tragacanth

Astragalus tragacantha is a low, densely spiny cushion-forming subshrub of the Fabaceae native to rocky maritime cliffs and coastal slopes of the western Mediterranean, including Spain, France, Italy, and North Africa. Plants form rounded, intricately branched mounds 20 to 50 cm high and up to a meter wide, with persistent woody stems clothed in old leaf rachises that harden into stiff, sharp spines. The leaves are pinnately compound with small, silky-pubescent obovate leaflets borne along the persistent spinose rachis. Small white to pale pink papilionaceous flowers are produced in short axillary clusters in late spring and early summer, followed by small, hairy legumes containing few seeds. The plant historically yielded a gum (tragacanth) exuded from wounded stems, though most commercial gum tragacanth derives from related Asian species such as A. gummifer.