General: Perennial herb from a woody stem-base, often somewhat rhizomatous; stems solitary to several, erect, 30-100 cm tall, often hollow, mostly unbranched, the lowermost nodes leafless, greenish, glabrous or with sparse, long, soft, unbranched hairs.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, 9-17 cm long, short-stalked; leaflets 9 to 17, egg-shaped to elliptic-oblong, rounded at the tip, sparsely hairy below, glabrous above, 2-6 cm long; stipules 1-3 cm long, oblong, not joined, bent downwards.
Flowers: Inflorescence a loose, axillary raceme of 10 to 25 (40) nodding, pea-like flowers, the racemes 2-9 cm long on stalks equalling or shorter than the leaves; corollas (8) 10-15 mm long, white or yellowish-white, the keel-tip often purplish, the banner slightly longer than the wings, which are shorter than the keel; calyces bell-shaped, 4-5 mm long, glabrous except for the long, fringing hairs of the very short, triangular teeth.
Fruits: Pods, ellipsoid-inflated, drooping on long (5-10 mm) slender stalks, membranous, shiny, glabrous or nearly so, 2-3 cm long, 1-chambered.
Moist to mesic meadows, streambanks, thickets and forest openings in the montane and steppe zones; frequent in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to PQ and S to SD, MT and CO.
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)
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Astragalus frigidus (L.) A. Gray p.p. Astragalus frigidus var. americanus (Hook.) S. Watson Astragalus frigidus var. gaspensis (Rouss.) Fernald Phaca americana (Hook.) Rydb. ex Small
