Plants slender, weak, 10–40(–50) cm, minutely strigulose; from shallow to deep subterra­nean caudex. Stems prostrate or diffuse, 1–6+ cm underground, minutely strigulose. Leaves 1–6.5 cm; stipules connate-sheathing at least at proximal nodes, often becoming anthocyanic and somewhat enlarged at distal nodes, 3–6 mm, thinly herbaceous becoming papery; leaflet blades elliptic to oblong, 1.5–8 mm, apex obtuse to retuse, surfaces strigulose, sometimes glabrous or glabrate adaxially. Peduncles ascending, (2.5–)3–10 cm. Racemes 1–5-flowered; axis 1–3 cm in fruit; bracts 1.5–4.5 mm; bracteoles 0. Pedicels 1.8–4 mm. Flowers 12–20 mm; calyx 6–6.7 mm, black-strigose to glabrate, tube 3–4.7 mm, lobes triangular-acuminate to linear, 1–2.5 mm; corolla keel 11.2–13.7 mm. Legumes pale green with purple dots, curved in 0.5–1 spiral, laterally compressed, 30–50 × 50–75 mm, papery-membranous, semitransparent, minutely strigose; gyno­phore 4–10 mm. 2n = 22.

Phenology: Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat: Gravel bars, rock outcrops, gravelly ridgecrests, scree and talus with Dryas and other pioneering species, often at foot of melting glaciers.
Elevation: 200–1800 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

B.C., Yukon, Alaska.

Discussion

The pink or purple flowers and the great sickle-shaped, purple-suffused fruits, which recline on the ground, make this one of the most attractive of subarctic species.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.