LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY) 



241 



STEMLESS LOCO-WEED 



Oxytropis Lamberti, Pursh. 

 (Aragdllus spicdtus, Rydb.) 



Other English names: Colorado Loco-vetch, White Loco-weed, 



White Rattleweed. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : April at southern limit of range, August at northern 



limit. 



Seed-time: June to October. 

 Range: Minnesota to the Saskatchewan and British Columbia, 



southward to Texas and Mexico. 

 Habitat : Prairies and foothills ; wild pastures and meadows. 



This plant not only has a far wider range than the preceding 

 species, but also climbs higher up the mountain sides, being found 

 in Colorado and Montana at an altitude 

 of eight thousand feet. Where they grow 

 in company, however, the Woolly Loco- 

 weed is considered the more harmful. 



The root is hard, thick, woody, and scaly, 

 boring deeply into the earth ; it is crowned 

 with a thick tuft of nearly erect, odd- 

 pinnate leaves, about four to eight inches 

 long, with slender petioles and nine to nine- 

 teen narrow, lance-shaped leaflets, about 

 an inch in length and covered with fine, 

 silky, whitish hairs ; stipules hairy, mem- 

 branous, lance-shaped, united to the base of 

 the petiole. The peduncles also rise from 

 the crown, eight to twelve inches in height, 

 holding the dense flower-spikes well above 

 the leaves ; the flowers are usually white, 

 and where the plant is abundant 1 large 

 areas appear as though covered with snow ; 

 but in some localities, usually in the higher 

 mountain regions, there is 'great variation, 

 some flowers being pink, others yellowish 



or violet or purple; they are large, more L'O co-weed (Oxytropis 

 than an inch long, slender, with erect, ovate Lamberti). x i. 

 R 



FIG. 172. Stemless 



