Flora of North America species comparison

Variety spicata is a highly variable taxon that closely resembles its counterpart var. varians farther to the north, but it presents differing facies and forms intermediate with other taxa. Morphological intermediates occur between vars. davisii and spicata in southwestern Alberta, and with var. cusickii through much of its range. Plants from British Columbia and Washington, known as var. cervinus, are similar to Oxytropis sericea var. speciosa in flower size (17–22 mm) and in number of leaflets (11–17). Occasional specimens of that entity do occur in British Columbia, and the most apparent diagnostic features, both tenuous, are the thick texture of the leaflets and the more conspicuously ochroleucous flowers of var. speciosa.

Examination of the type (S. L. Welsh 1995b) shows that the name var. spicata should be applied to the taxon that was previously known as var. gracilis. If var. spicata is recognized as a species, the name Oxytropis spicata (Hooker) Standley (1921) could not be used, since it is a later homonym of O. spicata O Fedtschenko & B. Fedtschenko (1909). The name O. monticola A. Gray would have priority. Oxytropis spicata (Hooker) Standley is an illegitimate name that applies here.

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