General:
Perennial herb from a thick taproot and knotty or short-branched stem-base; stems few to many in bushy clumps, ascending to erect, sometimes sprawling at higher elevations, 20-60 cm tall, branched, short-hairy with appressed, unbranched hairs.

Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound, 3-8 cm long, the stalks very short or lacking; leaflets 9 to 25, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, rounded at the tip, 0.8-2.5 cm long, finely appressed-hairy below, commonly glabrous above; stipules joined opposite the leaf stalks and clasping the stem, 3-6 mm long, the lowest papery and often blackish, the upper less strongly united.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a loose, axillary raceme of 4 to 20 pea-like flowers, the flowers at first ascending, later nodding, the racemes 3-10 cm long on short (1-4 cm) stalks; corollas 6-9 mm long, yellowish-white but sometimes pink-tinged, the keel purple-tipped, the banner slightly longer than the wings, which are 1-2 mm longer than the keel; calyces bell-shaped, appressed-hairy with black or white hairs, 2.5-4 mm long, the awl-shaped teeth 2/3 as long as the tube.

Fruits:
Pods, oblong, flattened, 7-18 mm long, drooping from the 1- to 5-mm long stalk, papery-membranous, glabrous, often mottled or stippled, net-veined when mature, 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 tenellus var. strigulosus (Rydb.) F.J. Herm.
Homalobus tenellus (Pursh) Britton