Astragalus tenellus

Loose-Flowered Milk-Vetch

Flower Side
Standard and 1 Wing Removed

Buffalograss Ecological Reserve
10-June-2011

Note the keel is much shorter than the wings.

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Tenellus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora (BF)  and Flora of Alberta (FOA) leading to this species. 
bulletplants taller; NOT [plants low, 10 cm or less]
bulletplants with erect or decumbent stems; NOT [plants low, cushion-like, matted or straggling] (BF)
bulletstems 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)
bulletplants NOT densely hairy
bulletstems generally less than 5 mm thick at base; NOT [stems generally thick, 5-10 mm at base]
bulletleaves NOT needle-like; NOT [leaves needle-like, about 10 mm long, 1mm wide, distinctly spine-tipped]
bulletleaflets shorter; NOT [leaflets 2-4 (6) cm long]
bulletleaflets not narrowly linear; NOT [leaflets very narrowly linear]
bulletleaflets glabrous or nearly so; NOT [leaflets strigose, at least beneath]
bulletinflorescence loosely flowered; NOT [inflorescence densely flowered]
bulletflowers 10-15 mm long; NOT [flowers about 20 mm long]
bulletflowers white, yellow, or greenish; NOT [flowers at least partly reddish, purplish, or bluish] (BF)
bulletpetals mostly yellow, cream or orange, the keel sometimes tinged with blue or blue-tipped; NOT [petals blue, purple or pink or predominantly so (sometimes very pale with only flashes of deeper colour)] (FOA)
bulletwing-petals entire; NOT [wing-petals deeply bidentate at the apex]
bulletkeel-petals less than 6 mm long; NOT [keel-petals longer than 6 mm ]
bulletkeel-petals much shorter than the wings; NOT [keel-petals about as long as the wings]
bulletpods oblong
bulletpods pointed at both ends

 

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Astragalus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora (BF)  and Flora of Alberta (FOA) leading to this genus. 
bulletherbs; NOT [shrubs]
bulletplants NOT climbing
bulletleafy stems often present; NOT [leafy stems usually absent]
bulletthe terminal leaflet normal; NOT [the terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril]
bulletleaflets more than 3; NOT [leaflets 3 (rarely 1)]
bulletleaves pinnate; NOT [leaves palmate]
bulletleaves NOT glandular-dotted
bulletkeel not truncate; NOT [keel mostly truncate]
bulletkeel rounded or obtuse at the tip; NOT [keel with a sharp point at the tip]
bulletpods NOT segmented or jointed; NOT [pods segmented or jointed, breaking up at maturity]
bulletNOT [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]
bulletNOT [inflorescence umbel-like; flowers yellow; leaflets 5, pinnately arranged (the lower pair basal and resembling stipules)]

 

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Leguminosae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family.
bulletherbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]
bulletplants terrestrial or semi-aquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]
bulletplants NOT with colored milky juice
bulletplants with more than one normal leaf
bulletsome or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]
bulletleaves with stipules; NOT [leaves without stipules, or having glands]
bulletflowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others]
bulletcalyx regular; NOT [calyx irregular, some sepals smaller than others]
bulletflowers irregular in shape; NOT [flowers regular in shape]
bulletcorolla pea-like; NOT [corolla with one petal spurred or sac-like]
bulletstamens usually separate or partly so, not in a column; NOT [stamens numerous, united into a column]
bulletfruit a legume; NOT [fruit a 3-valved capsule]