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

	plants taller; NOT [plants low, 10 cm or less]
	plants with erect or decumbent stems; NOT [plants low, cushion-like, matted or straggling] (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)
	stems generally thick, 5-10 mm at base; NOT [stems generally less than 5 mm thick at base]
	plants NOT densely hairy
	plants with malpighian hairs; NOT [malpighian hairs lacking]
	leaves NOT needle-like
	leaflets 2-4 (6) cm long; NOT [leaflets shorter]
	leaflets broad, ovate-oblong to elliptic; NOT [leaflets narrow, linear]
	inflorescence a dense spike-like raceme; NOT [inflorescence a loose raceme]
	inflorescence 30-150 flowered; NOT [inflorescence 10-40 flowered]
	flowers ascending; NOT [flowers ascending to spreading]
	flowers shorter mostly 10-15 mm long; NOT [flowers mostly 20-25 mm long]
	flowers yellowish white to greenish yellow to white; NOT [flowers at least partly reddish, purplish or bluish]
	pods erect; NOT [pods reflexed]
	pods woody

Astragalus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus.  Not all the answers apply to all members of Astragalus found in the Canadian prairies, but they all do apply to this species. 

	herbs; NOT shrubs
	plants NOT climbing
	leafy stems often present; NOT [leafy stems usually absent]
	leaves pinnately divided; NOT [leaves palmately divided]
	leaflets more than 3
	terminal leaflet normal; NOT [terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril]
	leaflets NOT glandular-dotted
	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]
	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]
	NOT [inflorescence umbel-like; flowers yellow; leaflets 5, pinnately arranged (the lower pair basal and resembling stipules)]

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
	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]