Oxytropis campestris var. varians
Oxytropis campestris var. minor
field locoweed
field locoweed, oxytrope mineur
3–40 cm;
stipules usually ± pilose abaxially, sometimes glabrous, margins ciliate, with clavate processes;
leaflets (9–)15–45, scattered, subopposite, or fasciculate, blades 2–24 mm.
(2–)3–10(–13) cm;
stipules glabrous or glabrate abaxially, margins eciliate;
leaflets 11–23(–27), opposite or subopposite, blades 2–10 mm.
(4–)10–25+-flowered.
(3–)5–9-flowered, subcapitate.
3.5–35+ cm, axis 1.5–21 cm in fruit.
curved-ascending, 3–15(–18) cm, axis 0.3–1.5 cm in fruit.
usually yellowish or whitish, rarely purplish in polychrome populations, sometimes fading purplish, keel tip sometimes maculate, usually 12–17(–19) mm.
purple fading violet, 11–18 mm.
pilosulous, hairs black and pale, tube 4–7.5 mm, lobes (1.2–)1.5–3 mm.
tube 5–6.5 mm, lobes deltate, 0.5–1.5(–2) mm.
12–19(–24+) × 3.5–6 mm.
10–22 × 3.5–5 mm.
= 48, 96, 98.
= 48.
Oxytropis campestris var. varians
Oxytropis campestris var. minor
Variety varians is a highly variable entity, with numerous plants with differing morphological phases often growing together on the same gravel bar or hillside in portions of Alaska and Yukon. Alpine phases of the variety, especially in southeastern Alaska, northern British Columbia, and southwestern Yukon, closely simulate high altitude materials of var. cusickii at its northern limits in Alberta and southern British Columbia. Specimens of var. varians appear to intergrade with materials of var. jordalii in montane sites near Juneau. Certainly, this is the northern counterpart of var. spicata, from which it differs in characters that are altogether tenuous. Some specimens from eastern Alaska show evidence of intermediacy between var. varians and Oxytropis splendens. These form the basis of Oxytropis tananensis Jurtzev (B. A. Jurtzev 1993b), which the Pan-Arctic Flora (http://panarcticflora.org/) recognizes as a distinct species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Putative reports of var. minor from the Mackenzie Mountains are probably referable to the purple-flowered var. roaldii, from which var. minor differs in its flowers that average larger, and in the longer calyx tube. There are several specimens from Churchill, Manitoba, that have been variously assigned to vars. johannensis, minor, or varians. Field studies of these populations need to be undertaken to resolve this problem. The Pan-Arctic Flora (http://panarcticflora.org/) treats this taxon as a distinct species, Oxytropis terrae-novae (with O. campestris var. johannensis as a synonym).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
