Crassicarpus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species.   Note the answers regarding the plant habit are confusing and contradictory.  Those from Budd's Flora are labeled (BF) and those from Flora of Alberta are labeled (FOA).

	plants large; NOT [plants small] (BF)
	plants taller; NOT [plants low, 10 cm or less] (FOA)
	plants low, cushion-like, matted or straggling; NOT [plants with erect or decumbent stems] (BF)
	plants NOT cushion-like (BF)
	stems spreading (BF)
	stems evident, erect or decumbent, often branched and leafy; NOT [plants densely caespitose or pulvinate; leaves many, crowded; flowers often included among leaves or barely exceeding them] (FOA)
	plants lacking malpighian hairs
	stems generally less than 5 mm thick at base; NOT [stem generally thick, 5-10 mm at base]
	leaves NOT needle-like
	leaves with 17-25 leaflets; NOT [leaves with 7-15 leaflets], NOT [leaves usually with a single leaflet, occasionally with 3 or 5 leaflets]
	leaflets shorter; NOT [leaflets 2-4 (6) cm long]
	leaflets NOT spine-tipped
	NOT [flowers spreading or reflexed in a spike-like raceme 4-15 cm long, much exceeding the leaves; pods reflexed, with 2 deep grooves on upper side]
	flowers borne on more or less well developed peduncles; NOT [flowers borne in the crown of the plant]
	flowers in a loose raceme; NOT [flowers in dense globose heads]
	flowers 12-30 mm long; NOT [flowers 5-12 mm long]
	flowers yellowish, with or without purplish tips; NOT [flowers purple or blue, occasionally whitish], NOT [flowers white] (BF)
	petals blue, purple or pink or predominantly so (sometimes very pale with only flashes of deeper colour); NOT [petals mostly yellow, cream or orange, the keel sometimes tinged with blue or blue-tipped] (FOA)
	pods 2-3 cm long; NOT [pods about 1 cm long]
	pods plum-like
	pods indehiscent
	pods glabrous; NOT [pods densely pubescent]

Astragalus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 

	herbs; NOT [shrubs]
	plants NOT climbing
	leafy stems often present; NOT [leafy stems usually absent]
	leaves pinnate; NOT [leaves palmate]
	the terminal leaflet normal; NOT [the terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril]
	leaflets more than 3; NOT [leaflets 3 (rarely 1)]
	leaves NOT glandular-dotted
	NOT [inflorescence umbel-like; flowers yellow; leaflets 5, pinnately arranged (the lower pair basal and resembling stipules)]
	NOT [flowers pinkish to red or purple; calyx-lobes subulate, much longer than the tube; fruit only slightly longer than wide, with short, stout spines, 1-seeded]
	keel NOT truncate; NOT [keel mostly truncate]
	keel rounded or obtuse at the tip; NOT [keel with a sharp point at the tip]
	pods NOT segmented or jointed; NOT [pods segmented or jointed, breaking up at maturity]

Leguminosae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 

	herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]
	plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]
	plants NOT with colored milky juice
	plants with more than one normal leaf
	some or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]
	leaves with stipules; NOT [leaves without stipules, or having glands]
	flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others
	calyx regular; NOT [calyx irregular, some sepals smaller than others]
	flowers irregular in shape; NOT [flowers regular in shape]
	corolla pea-like; NOT [corolla with one petal spurred or sac-like]
	stamens usually separate or partly so, not in a column; NOT [stamens numerous, united into a column]
	fruit a legume; NOT [fruit a 3-valved capsule]