Astragalus microcephalus is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native from Bulgaria to Iran. It was first described by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1802. The species and its two subspecies have acquired a large number of synonyms. Under a synonym of Astragalus microcephalus subsp. microcephalus, Astragalus atenicus, plants occurring in Georgia were assessed as "vulnerable".
, Plants of the World Online accepted two subspecies:
Astragalus microcephalus is native to southeast Bulgaria, Iran, Iraq, the North Caucasus, the South Caucasus (Transcaucasus) and Turkey. A. microcephalus subsp. microcephalus is native to Bulgaria, Iran, the North Caucasus, the South Caucasus and Turkey; A. microcephalus subsp. pycnocladus is found only in northeast Iraq and northwest Iran.
Astragalus atenicus was assessed as "vulnerable" in the 2007 IUCN Red List, where it is said to be native only to Kvemo Kartli in eastern Georgia, being found on stony and rubbly sites, in the mid-montane zone between elevations of 1,400 and 1,800 m., A. atenicus was regarded as a synonym of A. microcephalus subsp. microcephalus, which has a wider distribution outside Georgia.