FNA: Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii vs. Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea

	Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii	Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea
	Cusick's field crazyweed, Cusick's field locoweed, Cusick's locoweed, Cusick's oxytrope, field locoweed, yellow locoweed	field locoweed
Habit	Plants 4–15(–21) cm, herbage sparsely to densely pilose.	Plants 4–86 cm, herbage silky-pilose, hairs subappressed, often loosely and copiously 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.	4–26 cm; stipules pilose, margins ciliate; leaflets 17–29, scattered, opposite, or subopposite, blades 3–29 mm.
Racemes	3–15-flowered, subcapitate to somewhat elongate.	7–12(–14)-flowered.
Peduncles	prostrate to erect, 2–19 cm, glabrate, appressed-pilose, or villous-pilose, axis 0.5–3(–6) cm in fruit.	erect, (4–)8–36 cm, axis 1.5–9(–11) cm in fruit.
Corollas	whitish or yellowish throughout, keel tip usually not maculate, 14–18(–20) mm.	usually purple, rarely white, 12–18.5 mm.
Calyces	tube 6–9 mm, lobes 1–3.5(–4) mm.	tube 5–6 mm, lobes usually lanceolate, (1–)2–3 mm.
Legumes	10–19 × 3.5–5(–6) mm.	8–15 × 4–6 mm.
2n	= 48.	= 48.

	Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii	Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea
Phenology	Flowering summer.	Flowering summer.
Habitat	Talus slopes, ridge crests, alpine or subalpine meadows, usually above timberline.	Sandy lake shores.
Elevation	2100–3400 m. (6900–11200 ft.)	300–400 m. (1000–1300 ft.)
Distribution	CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC [BONAP county map]	WI [BONAP county map]
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.)	Variety chartacea is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source	FNA vol. 11.	FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa	Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Oxytropis > Oxytropis campestris	Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Oxytropis > Oxytropis campestris
Sibling taxa	O. campestris var. chartacea, O. campestris var. columbiana, O. campestris var. davisii, O. campestris var. dispar, O. campestris var. johannensis, O. campestris var. jordalii, O. campestris var. minor, O. campestris var. roaldii, O. campestris var. spicata, O. campestris var. varians, O. campestris var. wanapum	O. campestris var. columbiana, O. campestris var. cusickii, O. campestris var. davisii, O. campestris var. dispar, O. campestris var. johannensis, O. campestris var. jordalii, O. campestris var. minor, O. campestris var. roaldii, O. campestris var. spicata, O. campestris var. varians, O. campestris var. wanapum
Synonyms	O. cusickii, Aragallus alpicola, Astragalus alpicola, O. campestris var. rydbergii, O. paysoniana, O. rydbergii	O. chartacea
Name authority	(Greenman) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 111. (1951)	(Fassett) Barneby: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, 27: 269. (1952)
Web links	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	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii

Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea

Cusick's field crazyweed, Cusick's field locoweed, Cusick's locoweed, Cusick's oxytrope, field locoweed, yellow locoweed

field locoweed

Habit

Plants 4–15(–21) cm, herbage sparsely to densely pilose.

Plants 4–86 cm, herbage silky-pilose, hairs subappressed, often loosely and copiously 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.

4–26 cm;

stipules pilose, margins ciliate;

leaflets 17–29, scattered, opposite, or subopposite, blades 3–29 mm.

Racemes

3–15-flowered, subcapitate to somewhat elongate.

7–12(–14)-flowered.

Peduncles

prostrate to erect, 2–19 cm, glabrate, appressed-pilose, or villous-pilose, axis 0.5–3(–6) cm in fruit.

erect, (4–)8–36 cm, axis 1.5–9(–11) cm in fruit.

Corollas

whitish or yellowish throughout, keel tip usually not maculate, 14–18(–20) mm.

usually purple, rarely white, 12–18.5 mm.

Calyces

tube 6–9 mm, lobes 1–3.5(–4) mm.

tube 5–6 mm, lobes usually lanceolate, (1–)2–3 mm.

Legumes

10–19 × 3.5–5(–6) mm.

8–15 × 4–6 mm.

= 48.

Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii

Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea

Phenology

Flowering summer.

Habitat

Talus slopes, ridge crests, alpine or subalpine meadows, usually above timberline.

Sandy lake shores.

Elevation

2100–3400 m. (6900–11200 ft.)

300–400 m. (1000–1300 ft.)

Distribution

CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC

[BONAP county map]

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.)

Variety chartacea is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source

FNA vol. 11.

Parent taxa

Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Oxytropis > Oxytropis campestris

Sibling taxa

O. campestris var. chartacea, O. campestris var. columbiana, O. campestris var. davisii, O. campestris var. dispar, O. campestris var. johannensis, O. campestris var. jordalii, O. campestris var. minor, O. campestris var. roaldii, O. campestris var. spicata, O. campestris var. varians, O. campestris var. wanapum

O. campestris var. columbiana, O. campestris var. cusickii, O. campestris var. davisii, O. campestris var. dispar, O. campestris var. johannensis, O. campestris var. jordalii, O. campestris var. minor, O. campestris var. roaldii, O. campestris var. spicata, O. campestris var. varians, O. campestris var. wanapum

Synonyms

O. cusickii, Aragallus alpicola, Astragalus alpicola, O. campestris var. rydbergii, O. paysoniana, O. rydbergii

O. chartacea

Name authority

(Greenman) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 111. (1951)

(Fassett) Barneby: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, 27: 269. (1952)

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).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

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Flora of North America species comparison

Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii

Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea

Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii

Oxytropis campestris var. chartacea