Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii |
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Cusick's field crazyweed, Cusick's field locoweed, Cusick's locoweed, Cusick's oxytrope, field locoweed, yellow locoweed |
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Habit | Plants 4–15(–21) cm, herbage sparsely to densely pilose. |
Leaves | 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. |
Racemes | 3–15-flowered, subcapitate to somewhat elongate. |
Peduncles | prostrate to erect, 2–19 cm, glabrate, appressed-pilose, or villous-pilose, axis 0.5–3(–6) cm in fruit. |
Corollas | whitish or yellowish throughout, keel tip usually not maculate, 14–18(–20) mm. |
Calyces | tube 6–9 mm, lobes 1–3.5(–4) mm. |
Legumes | 10–19 × 3.5–5(–6) mm. |
2n | = 48. |
Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Talus slopes, ridge crests, alpine or subalpine meadows, usually above timberline. |
Elevation | 2100–3400 m. (6900–11200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC |
Discussion | 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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | O. cusickii, Aragallus alpicola, Astragalus alpicola, O. campestris var. rydbergii, O. paysoniana, O. rydbergii |
Name authority | (Greenman) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 111. (1951) |
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