Hedysarum
Hedysarum boreale
hedysarum, sainfoin, sweetvetch
boreal sweetvetch, northern hedysarum, northern sweet-vetch, plains sweetbroom, Utah sweetvetch
decumbent to erect or ascending, solid, terete, pubescent, hairs basifixed;
from branching subterranean to superficial caudex.
decumbent to erect, usually much branched, 1.5–7 dm.
alternate, odd-pinnate;
stipules present, slightly adnate to petiole base, ± connate-sheathing, often suffused with purple, lanceolate, simple or bidentate, scarious;
petiolate, petiole much shorter than or subequal to blade;
leaflets 5–27, opposite or alternate, petiolulate, blade margins entire, surfaces mostly pubescent, sometimes glabrous adaxially.
3–12(–14) cm;
stipules pale brown, sometimes streaked, 2–10 mm;
leaflets 5–15, blades usually oblong to elliptic, lanceolate-oblong, or ovate, rarely linear, 7–40 × 2–19 mm, veins obscure, surfaces strigose abaxially, strigose or glabrous adaxially.
5–45-flowered, axis 5–28.5 cm in fruit;
bracts 2–4 mm.
5–60-flowered, axillary, racemes, sometimes subcapitate;
bracts present, 1 per flower;
bracteoles usually 2.
2.8–15 cm.
0.8–4.5 mm.
papilionaceous;
calyx campanulate, lobes 5;
corolla usually pink, pink-purple, lavender-pink, red-purple, lilac, lilac-purple, or yellow, rarely white, keel much exceeding wings, somewhat longer than banner, broadly truncate, apex prominent, oblique;
stamens 10, diadelphous;
anthers dorsifixed;
ovary enclosed in staminal sheath;
style glabrous.
ascending at anthesis;
calyx 4.5–8 mm;
tube 2–3.5 mm, strigose;
lobes subulate, 2–6 mm, subequal to markedly unequal;
corolla usually red-purple, pink, magenta, or purple, rarely white, 10–22(–26) mm;
wing auricles distinct, blunt, shorter than claw.
loments, stipitate, pendulous to spreading, compressed, straight, narrowly ellipsoid, indehiscent (breaking transversely), constricted into 1–8, 1-seeded segments, glabrous or pubescent, rarely with processes.
1 per segment, brown, flattened, reniform-ovoid, glossy.
segments 2–8, 4.5–9 × 4–6.2 mm, margins prickly or not, not winged to moderately winged, prominently reticulate, usually crisp-puberulent to minutely strigose, rarely glabrous.
= 7.
Hedysarum
Hedysarum boreale
Species ca. 50 (4 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaflet blade veins obscure; loment margins moderately or not winged; calyx lobes subequal to markedly unequal in size; wing auricles distinct, blunt, shorter than claw. | H. boreale |
1. Leaflet blade veins conspicuous; loment margins narrowly or conspicuously winged; calyx lobes equal or nearly so; wing auricles connate, linear, nearly equal or equal to claw. | → 2 |
2. Flowers 10–19(–22) mm (when greater than 16 mm, then from north of 50th parallel), corollas usually lilac- to pink-purple, rarely white; loment segments 5.5–12 × 3.5–6 mm, margins narrowly winged; leaflet blades lanceolate to oblong, elliptic, or lanceolate-elliptic. | H. alpinum |
2. Flowers (14–)16–25 mm, corollas usually yellow to pale yellow, or shades of pink or purple, rarely white; loment segments 7–14.5(–18) × 5.5–10.2(–11) mm, margins conspicuously winged; leaflet blades lanceolate to ovate, elliptic, oblong, or lanceolate-oblong. | → 3 |
3. Corollas yellow to pale yellow, 14–20 mm; loment segments 5.5–9 mm wide, glabrous. | H. sulphurescens |
3. Corollas usually lavender-pink or lilac- to pink-purple, rarely white, 16–25 mm; loment segments 5.6–10.2(–11) mm wide, pubescent or glabrous. | H. occidentale |
1. Flowers 10–19 mm, usually pink to magenta or purple, rarely white; racemes 8–23 cm; loment segments 2–5. | subsp. boreale |
1. Flowers (14–)18–22(–26) mm, usually red-purple, sometimes pink, rarely white; racemes 2–10(–15) cm; loment segments 3–8. | subsp. mackenziei |
OR
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
