Fabaceae : Oxytropis sericea

Oxytropis sericea is an acaulescent perennial herb growing from a much-branched caudex, forming mounds of silky-haired leaves. The leaves are 4-30 cm long with 11 to 25 lanceolate to narrowly ovate leaflets, 5–40 mm long and 2-10 mm wide. The petioles are 1-15 cm long with membranous, hairy stipules, 8–22 mm long. Inflorescences are terminal racemes of 6 to 30 flowers atop of erect to ascending scapes (flowering stems), 5–30 cm long, including the peduncle. The calyx is covered in white and/or black hairs, and forms a tubular-campanulate tube, 8-12 mm long with unequal teeth 2-5 mm long. The papilionaceous corolla is white to yellowish white; the banner 16–25 mm long and deeply lobed, the wings 15-20 mm long, and the keel is 12-17 mm long with a small appendage at the distal end. The fruit are sessile, erect, oblong legumes, 15–25 mm long, with a short beak and having a few short stiff hairs to a silky covering of hair. White locoweed blooms from April into June in rocky prairies, hillsides, open woods and valleys in southwestern South Dakota.