Oxytropis sericea
  
Early Yellow Locoweed

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Highway #2 at Qu'Appelle Valley
23-May-2023

Note that the key to the genera in Flora of Alberta requires that the flowers NOT be yellow.  This of course is not true for this species.  It does this in an attempt to exclude Lotus.  The most common Lotus on the Canadian prairies, L. corniculatus, has deep yellow flowers arranged in an umbel-like inflorescence.

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

plants acaulescent

stipules adnate to the petioles for half their length; NOT [stipules adnate to the base of the petiole only]

leaves with 11-19 leaflets; NOT [leaves with 17-33 leaflets]

leaflets all paired or scattered on the rachis; NOT [leaflets mostly fascicled, appearing whorled, few leaflets in pairs]

flowers yellowish, ochroleucous, or whitish; NOT [flowers purplish or blue]

keel 15-20 mm long; NOT [keel 11-14.5 mm long]

pods erect or spreading; NOT [pods pendulous]

pods rigid at maturity

pods coriaceous; NOT [pods chartaceous]

 

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

herbs; NOT shrubs

plants NOT climbing

leafy stems usually absent

leaves pinnately divided; NOT [leaves palmately divided]

NOT [leaflets 5, pinnately arranged (the lower pair basal and resembling stipules)]

leaflets more than 3

terminal leaflet normal; NOT [terminal leaflet replaced by a tendril]

leaves NOT glandular-dotted

inflorescence NOT umbel-like

NOT [calyx lobes subulate, much longer than the tube]

NOT [flowers pinkish to red or purple]

keel with a sharp point at the tip; NOT [keel rounded, obtuse or truncate at tip]

fruit a legume; NOT [fruit a loment ]

NOT [fruit only slightly longer than wide, with short stout spines, 1-seeded]

 

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]

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

flowers with two floral rings

calyx regular

each petal distinct from the others

flowers irregular in shape

corolla pea-like; NOT [corolla with one petal spurred or sac-like]

stamens usually separate or partly so; NOT [all stamens united in a column]

fruit a legume; NOT [fruit a 3-valved capsule]