General:
Robust perennial herb from a spreading rhizome, greenish and nearly glabrous to greyish with basally 2-forked hairs; stems 1-few together, erect to decumbent, simple or branched above, 0.3-1 m tall.

Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound, 10-20 (35) cm long; leaflets 13 to 29, elliptic to oblong, blunt or notched and tiny-pointed at the tip, 1.5-4 cm long, often glabrous above; stipules membranous-papery, 6-15 mm long, some or all fused and sheathing at the base, the free ends lanceolate and long-tapering.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a spike-like, axillary raceme of 30 to 150, nodding, downward overlapping, pea-like flowers, the racemes 5-15 cm long on stalks 5-20 cm long; corollas greenish-white to cream, 12-17 mm long, the wings equal to the banner, the keel often purple-tipped; calyces 6-10 mm long, finely appressed-hairy, the tube twice as long as the awl-shaped teeth.

Fruits:
Pods, erect on stubs 1-2 mm long, crowded and persistent on the erect stalk of the inflorescence, cylindric, 8-20 mm long, with a tiny hook at the tip, somewhat leathery or stiff-papery, often finely appressed-hairy, 2-chambered.

Notes:
Three varieties are recognized for BC. The two varieties in S BC are sympatric and freely intergradient.

1. Pods cylindric, not grooved beneath and usually hairless; plants of NE BC..................... var. canadensis

1. Pods grooved beneath and usually hairy; plants of S BC.

2. Calyces white- and black-hairy; the teeth nearly equal in size, 1.5-3 mm long; plants greenish, not silvery-hairy...................... var. mortonii (Nutt.) S. Wats.

2. Calyces white-hairy, the teeth 1-2 mm long, the upper pair broader and shorter than the lower three; plants more or less silvery-hairy.....................var. brevidens (Gandog.) Barn.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

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:
Astragalus brevidens (Gandog.) Rydb.