It is also known locally as coixinet de monja (nun's pad) and eixorba-rates negre (black rat).

Assigned to the genus Astragalus, derived from the Greek άστράγαλος, Chater gave it a geographical epithet due to its prevalence on the Belearic islands.

The species is similar to Astragalus massiliensis which is found in Sardinia, from which it probably diverged at the end of the Oligocene when the islands separated from mainland France.

[4][5] The legume is endemic to Mallorca and Minorca in the Mediterranean Sea, where the cushion-like thorns of the plant create a landscape typical of the islands.

It prefers dry, windy, particularly exposed mountainous or coastal, environments which have deep calcareous soils.