Oxytropis campestris var. varians
Oxytropis campestris var. spicata
field locoweed
field locoweed, Nelson's field locoweed, Nelson's oxytrope, yellow-flower crazyweed, yellow-flower locoweed
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.
6–23 cm;
stipules glabrate to densely pilose abaxially, margins ciliate or eciliate, rarely with a few clavate processes;
leaflets (13–)17–33, opposite, subopposite, or scattered, blades 3–23 mm.
(4–)10–25+-flowered.
10–30-flowered.
3.5–35+ cm, axis 1.5–21 cm in fruit.
(7–)8–30(–48) cm, axis 2–23 cm in fruit.
usually yellowish or whitish, rarely purplish in polychrome populations, sometimes fading purplish, keel tip sometimes maculate, usually 12–17(–19) mm.
whitish or yellowish, fading yellowish, keel tip usually not maculate, 12–19.5 mm.
pilosulous, hairs black and pale, tube 4–7.5 mm, lobes (1.2–)1.5–3 mm.
tube 4.5–6.5 mm, lobes 1.5–3 mm.
12–19(–24+) × 3.5–6 mm.
12–23 × 4–6 mm.
= 48, 96, 98.
= 32, 48.
Oxytropis campestris var. varians
Oxytropis campestris var. spicata
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.)
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.)
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