Family: Fabaceae,
Pea
Genus: Hedysarum
Description
Plant height: 30-60 cm tall.
Growth habit:
erect perennial with several stems from a
thick crown and taproot.
Stems:
usually branched above, greenish, sparsely covered
with flat, stiff, very short hairs.
 Leaves: alternate, dark green, with 9-21 leaflets, 1-4 cm
long, elliptic to oblong, entire, prominently veined, rounded,
with small, sharp point at tips and sparsely hairy below.
Stipules lance-shaped, brownish-membranous, joined or
free, 10-15 mm long.
 Flowers: yellowish-white, 14-18 mm long, hanging,
20-100 in tall clusters, often 1-sided. Wings with a slender,
ear-shaped lobe almost equal to the claw. Calyx 3-4 mm
long, the teeth shorter than the tube, the upper 2 teeth
broader and shorter than the lower 3.
Flowering time: June-August.
 Fruits: flattened pods, hanging, with 2-4 obovate bumps
(loments), 6-10 mm wide, lightly and irregularly net-veined
except along the narrowly winged edges. Each loment with
2-4 seeds.
Distribution
Open forested areas, plains to subalpine, in w., c. and s.
parts of MT. Also from B.C. and Alberta to WY. |
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