Tenellus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora (BF)  and Flora of Alberta (FOA) 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)
	plants NOT densely hairy
	stems generally less than 5 mm thick at base; NOT [stems generally thick, 5-10 mm at base]
	leaves NOT needle-like; NOT [leaves needle-like, about 10 mm long, 1mm wide, distinctly spine-tipped]
	leaflets shorter; NOT [leaflets 2-4 (6) cm long]
	leaflets not narrowly linear; NOT [leaflets very narrowly linear]
	leaflets glabrous or nearly so; NOT [leaflets strigose, at least beneath]
	inflorescence loosely flowered; NOT [inflorescence densely flowered]
	flowers 10-15 mm long; NOT [flowers about 20 mm long]
	flowers white, yellow, or greenish; NOT [flowers at least partly reddish, purplish, or bluish] (BF)
	petals 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)
	wing-petals entire; NOT [wing-petals deeply bidentate at the apex]
	keel-petals less than 6 mm long; NOT [keel-petals longer than 6 mm ]
	keel-petals much shorter than the wings; NOT [keel-petals about as long as the wings]
	pods oblong
	pods pointed at both ends

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

	herbs; NOT [shrubs]
	plants NOT climbing
	leafy stems often present; NOT [leafy stems usually absent]
	the terminal leaflet normal; NOT [the terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril]
	leaflets more than 3; NOT [leaflets 3 (rarely 1)]
	leaves pinnate; NOT [leaves palmate]
	leaves 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 semi-aquatic; 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]