Oxytropis splendens Douglas ex Hook.
showy locoweed
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
showy locoweed
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a strong taproot and branched stem-base covered with persistent stipules; tufted, densely silky and long-soft-hairy throughout, to 35 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal, pinnately compound, 10-25 cm long; leaflets 32 to 70 in whorls of 3 to 4 along the axis, lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 5-25 mm long, long-soft-hairy throughout; stipules membranous, joined to the leaf-stalk for 1/2 of their length, the free ends triangular to long-tailed, hairy on the back with the hairs covering the margins.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a spike-like raceme 2-10 cm long, elongating in age, of 20 to 80 pea-like flowers, the raceme-stalks erect, 10-30 cm tall; corollas reddish-purple, 12-15 mm long; calyces cylindric, long-soft-hairy, about 2/3 as long as the corolla, the linear-lanceolate teeth about 1/3 the length of the tube.
Fruits:
Pods, egg-shaped to cylindric, 10-17 mm long, narrowed to a beak 3 mm long, somewhat papery, grooved on both sutures, long-soft-hairy, more or less 1-chambered.
Illustration
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
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Purple
Blooming Period:
Late Summer
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Oxytropis splendens
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)
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)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
1244 | 6 | 2563 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
40 | 0 | 80 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
207 | 90 | 260 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
2 | 0 | 5 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
B | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
18 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
BWBS | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BWBS(7), ESSF(1), IDF(1), IMA(1), MS(1), SWB(6) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Dry meadows, grasslands, gravel bars and cutbanks, river terraces, clearings and open forests in the steppe and montane zones; frequent in NE BC, infrequent in SE BC; N to AK, YT and NT, E to MB and S to MN, ND and NM.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Aragallus splendens (Dougl. ex Hook.) Greene
Astragalus splendens (Dougl. ex Hook.) Tidestrom
Oxytropis richardsonii (Hook.) K. Schum.
Oxytropis splendens var. richardsonii Hook.
Oxytropis splendens var. vestita Hook.