General:
Perennial herb from a creeping rhizome; stems erect, 40-80 cm tall, only slightly branched, glabrous or dark appressed-hairy.
Leaves:
Alternate, palmately compound, stalked; leaflets 3, narrowly egg-shaped, stalked, abruptly sharp-pointed at the tip, 2-6 cm long, sparsely hairy, gland-dotted; stipules linear, not joined to the leaf-stalks.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a short, congested, head-like, terminal raceme of 15 to 20 pea-like flowers, the dark-hairy stalks much longer than the racemes; corollas whitish-yellow, 9-12 mm long, the banner yellowish-green, the keel purple-tipped; calyces tubular, black-hairy, gland-dotted, 4-8 mm long in flower, growing longer in fruit, the triangular teeth equalling or shorter than the tube.
Fruits:
Pods, compressed egg-shaped, 4-7 mm long, golden-red, sparsely dark-hairy, faintly net-veined or smooth.
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Psoralea physodes Douglas ex Hook.