Utah Oxytropis?

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Plant Identification

I found this lovely, compact species growing in widely-scattered colonies in the Uinta Mountains, Uintah County, Utah, blooming on May 21, 2009. I was in the area of Brush Creek Canyon Overlook at an elevation of between 8,400 and 8,700 feet in large, open meadows ringed by aspen groves. I don't know if it is, indeed, an Oxytropis but it is definitely in Fabaceae. Can you help me put a name to my photos?

Comments

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Mon, 01/21/2013 - 5:23am

Hi Jane,

Sorry but I don't have an ID suggestion, just wanted to say what a lovely plant it is; I'm going to sit back to see if anyone else knows its name.

John P. Weiser's picture

John P. Weiser

Mon, 01/21/2013 - 9:52pm

In flower one of the easier to see differences is that in Oxytropis, the keel tip is beaked. In other words notched and not smoothly curved. They may have just the sightest notch or break in the curve in some species. In others species a more pronounced deeper cleft is displayed, so that it  seems to have a distinct lobe protruding from the edge of the keel tip.

I hope I described this well.

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Tue, 01/22/2013 - 5:29am

Examples... (and please correct me if I'm wrong):
Beaked keel on Oxytropis viscida and Oxytropis megalantha:
 

Rounded keel on Astragalus angustifolius:

NB.  To expose the keel for a clear look, pull apart the two side petals that enclose it.

John P. Weiser's picture

John P. Weiser

Tue, 01/22/2013 - 6:37am

Excellent examples Lori. The beaks are very well defined in your shots. Just be aware that they can be more subtle in some species. I hope this next example is large enough to view.

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Tue, 01/22/2013 - 7:37pm
Weiser wrote:

The beaks are very well defined in your shots. Just be aware that they can be more subtle in some species.

Good thing the ones I've looked at happened to be well defined ones!  
I'd like to know what to watch out for on the more subtle ones.  On the one you show, I'm not entirely clear on where the beak or notch is (versus the two petals that flank the keel), so I hope you don't mind that I have copied and annotated your photo (below) to ask my question... Is the notch/beak the bit outlined in blue (immediately left of the red arrow)?  (Or is the structure the blue arrow is touching?)

John P. Weiser's picture

John P. Weiser

Tue, 01/22/2013 - 8:40pm

Lori
You are correct with the first outlined section. The red Arrow is pointing directly at the notch along the keel edge. It is not a sharp V shaped notch, I would describe it more as a slight in curving of the keel edge (An interuption to arc, so to speak) which then flares out slightly again, creating a lobe (or Beak) at the tip of the Keel.

By the way I have this ID-ed as Oxytropis borealis. Possibly (var. australis?) which is the variety found in the Sierra Nevada Range.

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Wed, 01/23/2013 - 8:02am

This is all very interesting.  John, I thought that Oxytropis borealis had pinnately compound leaves, the subject plant has simple leaves as far as I can tell. I find this whole lot, Astagalus and Oxytropis bewildering. :)

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Wed, 01/23/2013 - 8:24am
McDonough wrote:

This is all very interesting.  John, I thought that Oxytropis borealis had pinnately compound leaves, the subject plant has simple leaves as far as I can tell. I find this whole lot, Astagalus and Oxytropis bewildering. :)

I think the conversation is getting mixed up between "the plant in question" (Jane's) and the plant in the photo added by John to show flower characteristics of Oxytropis?

Anne Spiegel's picture

Anne Spiegel

Wed, 01/23/2013 - 8:24pm

Just to add to the topic.  This is a picture of Astragalus spatulatus - a white form - which has been living quite happily in a trough in my garden.  It has been blooming reliably every year for many years.  The very definition of a great astragalus, coming from the west and settling happily in the northeast!

Anne Spiegel's picture

Anne Spiegel

Thu, 01/24/2013 - 6:43am

And sooo long-lasting.  I think if you look long enough you will find a white form of almost any plant.  I've seen a white form
of Oxytropis podocarpa above Boreas Pass years ago.  May I just use this space to say how much I'm enjoying your articles in the Quarterly.  I hope there will be more.