Montana Field Guide

Rhizomatous perennial. Herbage strigose with dolabriform hairs. Stems ascending, zig-zag, 10–20 cm. Leaves with 5 to 15, obovate leaflets, 5–15 mm long with blunt to rounded tips; lower stipules connate 5–10 mm long. Inflorescence barely longer than the leaves, crowded with 15 to 40 spreading flowers. Flowers ochroleucus; calyx black- and/or white-strigose; sepals 1–3 mm long; banner 10–15 mm long, becoming moderately reflexed; keel 10–13 mm long. Legume ascending, linear-oblong, weakly villous, leathery, 10–16 mm long (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Sandy, calcareous soil of sagebrush steppe; valleys (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

POLLINATORS
The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: Bombus vagans, Bombus appositus, Bombus auricomus, Bombus bifarius, Bombus borealis, Bombus centralis, Bombus fervidus, Bombus flavifrons, Bombus huntii, Bombus mixtus, Bombus nevadensis, Bombus rufocinctus, Bombus ternarius, Bombus terricola, Bombus occidentalis, Bombus pensylvanicus, Bombus griseocollis, and Bombus insularis (Macior 1974, Thorp et al. 1983, Mayer et al. 2000, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Wilson et al. 2010, Koch et al. 2012, Miller-Struttmann and Galen 2014, Williams et al. 2014).