Oxytropis multiceps
Fl. N. Amer. 1: 341. 1838.
Plants pulvinate-cespitose, appearing acaulescent, herbage silky-pilose. Leaves 1–5 cm; stipules membranous, light tan or pale gray, white-silky-pilose, margins ciliate; leaflets 5–9, opposite or scattered, blades lanceolate to elliptic, oblong, or oblanceolate, 3–13 × 1–4 mm, apex acute, surfaces silky-pilose. Peduncles 1–4 cm, axis 0.5–1 cm in fruit, long-villous; bract ovate to broadly lanceolate, sparsely pilose. Racemes 1–4-flowered, clustered. Calyces campanulate or already tumescent at anthesis, 7–13(–20) mm, densely white-pilose; tube 5.5–10 mm 8–18 mm in fruit, becoming bladdery-inflated and investing fruit, lobes 2–3 mm. Corollas bright pink to pink-purple, 17–24 mm. Legumes included within swollen calyx, erect or pendulous, stipitate, stipe 0.5–1.5 mm, ovoid-ellipsoid, 6–10 × 3–5 mm, subunilocular, papery, not rigid at maturity, short-villous.
Phenology: Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat: Gravelly summits and ridges, conifer and alpine communities.
Elevation: 1300–3200 m.
Distribution
Colo., Nebr., Utah, Wyo.
Discussion
The dwarf habit, accrescent calyces, broad bracts, and relatively few flowers are characteristic of Oxytropis multiceps.
Selected References
None.