Oxytropis campestris var. wanapum |
Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii |
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field locoweed, Wanapum crazyweed, Wanapum locoweed |
Cusick's field crazyweed, Cusick's field locoweed, Cusick's locoweed, Cusick's oxytrope, field locoweed, yellow locoweed |
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Habit | Plants (10–)13–21 cm, herbage silky-pilose, canescent. | Plants 4–15(–21) cm, herbage sparsely to densely pilose. |
Leaves | (11–)14–18(–22) cm; stipules pilose abaxially, margins ciliate; leaflets (13–)19–25(–33), scattered or subopposite, blades linear to narrowly oblong, (8–)15–25(–33) mm. |
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 | (5 or)6–12-flowered. |
3–15-flowered, subcapitate to somewhat elongate. |
Peduncles | (10–)17–21(–30) cm, axis (4–)6–8(–12) cm in fruit. |
prostrate to erect, 2–19 cm, glabrate, appressed-pilose, or villous-pilose, axis 0.5–3(–6) cm in fruit. |
Corollas | pale lavender, banner veined, keel tip maculate with purplish blue, 14–20(–23) mm. |
whitish or yellowish throughout, keel tip usually not maculate, 14–18(–20) mm. |
Calyces | tube 5–7 mm, lobes (1–)2–3 mm. |
tube 6–9 mm, lobes 1–3.5(–4) mm. |
Legumes | 13–23 × 3.5–5 mm. |
10–19 × 3.5–5(–6) mm. |
2n | = 48. |
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Oxytropis campestris var. wanapum |
Oxytropis campestris var. cusickii |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Gravelly ridges above steep north-facing basalt talus. | Talus slopes, ridge crests, alpine or subalpine meadows, usually above timberline. |
Elevation | 600 m. (2000 ft.) | 2100–3400 m. (6900–11200 ft.) |
Distribution |
WA |
CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC |
Discussion | Variety wanapum is restricted to xeric, basaltic gravels, talus, or outcrops in Grant County. Its flowers, suffused with purple, are diagnostic since no other varieties of the species in the Pacific Northwest typically have colored flowers. The narrow-bladed leaflets tend to be involute and to vary in number, usually 19–25. These vegetative features are unlike any of the other several varieties of Oxytropis campestris that occur elsewhere in North America and have lavender to purplish flowers. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | O. cusickii, Aragallus alpicola, Astragalus alpicola, O. campestris var. rydbergii, O. paysoniana, O. rydbergii | |
Name authority | Joyal: Great Basin Naturalist 50: 373, fig. 1. (1991) | (Greenman) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 111. (1951) |
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