General:
Perennial herb from a taproot and branching stem-base, often with rhizomes; stems several to many, tufted, decumbent to erect, 10-40 cm long/tall, with short, appressed, unbranched (in ours) hairs.

Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound, 3-15 cm long, stalked; leaflets 7 to 21, linear to lance-oblong or oval, 5-30 mm long, greyish appressed-hairy on both surfaces or green and glabrous above; stipules lanceolate, 2-7 mm long, fused into a membranous sheath.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a loose to compact, axillary raceme of 3 to 20 more or less spreading, pea-like flowers, the racemes 1-10 cm long on slender stalks from shorter to longer than the leaves; corollas 8-12 mm long, from white or yellowish to bluish, the banner and wings with blue to pinkish-purple pencilling, the banner slightly longer than the wings and the purple-tipped keel; calyces 3-6 mm long, white or black appressed-hairy, the teeth triangular-awl-shaped, about 1 mm long.

Fruits:
Pods, narrowly oblong, nearly unstalked, drooping, glabrous to hairy, 1.5-2.5 cm long, flattened or not, becoming papery, 1-chambered.

Notes:
Two varieties occur in BC:

1. Leaflets equally hairy on both sides, the foliage silvery or frosted; calyces 4.5-6 mm long; keels 8-10.5 mm long.......................... var. miser

1. Leaflets glabrous or becoming so above, if hairy then the flowers much smaller; calyces less than 4 mm long; keels 6-8 mm long.............................. var. serotinus (A. Gray) 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 decumbens var. serotinus (A. Gray ex Cooper) M.E. Jones
Astragalus serotinus A. Gray ex Cooper
Jones