General: Fleshy perennial herb from a thick taproot and stout, branching stem-base; stems prostrate to ascending, mat-forming, 10-50 cm long, minutely appressed-hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound; leaflets 13 to 25, oblong to elliptic, often blunt and notched at the tip, 5-20 mm long, fleshy, greenish, appressed-hairy below, glabrous above; stipules lanceolate, 3-8 mm long, not joined.
Flowers: Inflorescence a loose, axillary raceme of 5 to 20 spreading, pea-like flowers, the raceme-stalks shorter than the leaves; corollas 2-3 cm long, usually white, the keel often purple-tinged, the wings about equal to the banner but much longer than the keel; calyces tubular, black-hairy, about 1/2 as long as the corolla, the teeth lanceolate, about 1/3 the length of the tube.
Fruits: Pods, ellipsoid to globe-shaped, unstalked, 2-2.5 cm in diameter, glabrous, fleshy and reddish at first, becoming bony and brownish in age, almost completely 2-chambered.
Dry grassy openings in the montane zone; rare in SE BC, known recently only from Alexander Creek, Crowsnest Pass area; E to SK and S to MO, TN, TX, MT, AZ and NM.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
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