Flora of North America species comparison

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Hedysarum occidentale var. occidentale
Photo is of parent taxon

western sweet-vetch
Stems

decumbent to erect, 1.2–9.5 dm.
Leaves

3.5–15 cm;

leaflets 11–19, blades 5–40 × 3–12 mm, usually 2–4 times longer than wide, not or rarely thickened, not especially deciduous.
Racemes

axis 4–13 cm in fruit;

peduncle (3–)6–15 cm.
Flowers

corolla usually lilac- to pink-purple, rarely white, 16–22 mm.

Hedysarum occidentale var. occidentale
Phenology Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat Sagebrush, aspen, lodgepole pine, spruce-fir, and alpine tundra commu­nities.
Elevation 900–3400 m. (3000–11200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; ID; MT; UT; WA; WY; BC
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety occidentale is apparently more closely allied with Hedysarum sulphurescens than with H. alpinum. However, the three taxa could easily be accommodated within an expanded H. alpinum, which is not proposed herein. Similar sequences of large-flowered phases and dwarf versus tall plants occur in all three taxa, and in each the extremes are connected completely by intermediates.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Hedysarum > Hedysarum occidentale
Sibling taxa
H. occidentale var. canone
Synonyms H. lancifolium, H. marginatum, H. uintahense
Name authority unknown
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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