General:
Perennial herb from a buried stem-base and its rhizome-like branches; stems solitary or few together, erect to ascending, 5-30 cm tall, unbranched, long-soft-hairy with unbranched hairs.

Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound, 4-12 cm long; leaflets 7 to 13, oblong to elliptic, 1-3 cm long, blunt to rounded at the tip, dark green and glabrous above, sparsely white-hairy below; stipules leafy, narrowly egg-shaped, 7-15 mm long, the lowest fused and sheathing, the upper free but also sheathing at the base.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a short (1-5 cm long), compact, axillary, umbel-like raceme of 5 to 11 nodding, pea-like flowers, the raceme-stalks 3-9 cm long; corollas yellow to cream with white margins, sometimes purple-tinged, the wings slightly shorter than the banner and longer than the keel; calyces cylindric, greenish-yellow drying brown, sparsely black long-hairy, the tube 6-8 mm long, the triangular teeth less than 1 mm long.

Fruits:
Pods, lance-ellipsoid to egg-shaped, 20-25 mm long including the 5- to 7-mm long stalk, drooping, black soft-hairy, somewhat inflated, 1-chambered.

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 frigidus (L.) A. Gray p.p.