Oxytropis campestris var. columbiana
Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii
field locoweed, slender crazyweed
Cusick's field crazyweed, Cusick's field locoweed, Cusick's locoweed, Cusick's oxytrope, field locoweed, yellow locoweed
(5–)8–17 cm;
stipules usually pilose, sometimes glabrescent abaxially, margins sometimes ciliate;
leaflets 11–17(or 19), opposite or subopposite, blades 9–30 mm.
1.2–12 cm;
stipules glabrous or sparsely pilose proximally, margins ciliate or eciliate;
leaflets 7–15(–17), opposite, subopposite, or scattered, blades 4–23 mm.
10–28-flowered.
3–15-flowered, subcapitate to somewhat elongate.
(8–)12–30 cm, axis 2–10 cm in fruit.
prostrate to erect, 2–19 cm, glabrate, appressed-pilose, or villous-pilose, axis 0.5–3(–6) cm in fruit.
white, banner often veined, keel tip maculate with purplish blue, 15–20(–22) mm.
whitish or yellowish throughout, keel tip usually not maculate, 14–18(–20) mm.
tube 5–6.5 mm, lobes (1.8–)2.5–4 mm.
tube 6–9 mm, lobes 1–3.5(–4) mm.
16–23 × 5–7 mm.
10–19 × 3.5–5(–6) mm.
= 48.
= 48.
Oxytropis campestris var. columbiana
Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii
Variety columbiana is distinguished by the combination of small number of leaflets, whitish flowers with maculate keels, and its soft, silky pubescence; it is very similar to var. spicata, with which it is somewhat transitional. It differs in about the same manner as other varieties in this complex group of infraspecific taxa. Most of the Washington populations appear to have been eradicated by storage water in a reservoir. This variety is known currently mainly from islands in, and points around, Flathead Lake, Lake County, Montana. The tendency toward relatively large flowers and only 11–17 leaflets is similar to the so-called cervinus phase of var. spicata, which is common some distance north of Flathead Lake and extending into British Columbia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Variety cusickii is highly variable in flower size, especially where the large-flowered Oxytropis sericea var. speciosa occurs nearby. The existence of apparently transitional populations demonstrates the absence of consistent diagnostic features to separate what are, otherwise, rather distinctive taxa. The flowers seldom fade to a relatively bright yellowish on drying, as in O. sericea var. speciosa. It is not always possible to distinguish specimens of var. cusickii from var. spicata. Those materials traditionally passing as var. cusickii often occur in near proximity to var. spicata, which occurs at lower elevations on the same mountain ranges.
Oxytropis alpicola (Rydberg) M. E. Jones is an illegitimate name that pertains here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
