NORTHERN HEDYSARUM 



Hedysarum boreale Nutt. 

 PEA FAMILY 



The Northern Hedysarum is a native of the northern and 

 western part of the Continent. Common among thickets, along 

 roadsides, and on the plains, it is, over wide areas, quite the most 

 abundant member of its family. 



The picture shows it greatly reduced in size, as the plants 

 photographed were more than two feet tall. The height, however, 

 varies from one to three feet. The rather stout stems bear 

 pinnate leaves, having from eleven to twenty-one leaflets. From 

 the axils of the upper leaves spring long racemes of numerous 

 pale pink, rose, or purple flowers. Although the stems are stiff, 

 the drooping blossoms and light foliage lend an air of elegance 

 and grace to the plant. The drooping flowers are succeeded by 

 drooping pods. As these are prominently jointed, they serve 

 as a ready means of identification. 



Several other species of Hedysarum occur in Western Canada. 

 As none of them seem to have yet been given a common name, 

 they must be referred to by their botanical names. H. 

 sulphurescens closely resembles the one described above but has 

 sulphur-yellow flowers, and is found chiefly in the mountains 

 and foothills. H. dnerascens, with reddish-purple flowers and 

 silvery leaves, is found in dry soil on the prairie. H. Mackenzii, 

 the most showy one of all, is common in the meadows of the 

 foothills and eastward in the southern part of the prairie region. 

 On river banks it seems also to be spreading far to the East and 

 North. Its manner of growth clustered stems, eight to eighteen 

 inches high, forming a rounded mass of bright green foliage 

 topped with clusters of large flowers of a vivid rose-purple 

 renders it one of the most striking and handsome of our wild 

 plants. 



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