|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
||
| THE LEGUME FAMILY | ||
| The legumes are widely used as crop
foods around the world. Some well known examples are peas (Pisum),
peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), and beans (Phaseolus).
Some legumes are planted as alternate crops to restore nitrogen to the soil
with the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots nodules. Other plants,
like the sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus), are used as ornamentals The legumes are herbs or trees. These plants have pinnately or palmately compound leaves. Rarely, the leaves are simple. Stipules, or a pair of leaf-like structures, are found at the base of the leaf. The flowers are in various types of inflorescences in the leaf axils and at the top of the plant, or the flowers are solitary. The flowers are usually irregularly shaped with five petals: the banner, two wings and two keels. The banner is the outermost petal and is often quite large. The wings are the next outermost petals and are found on the sides. The keel is made of two petals that often appear fused to create a boat shape. The legumes usually have 10 stamens, commonly in a diadelphous, or nine plus one arrangement. The fruit types in this family include the legume, such as the pea, or the loment, which is constricted between the seeds. In some legume species, modifications such as tendrils or thorns may be observed. |
||
| SPINY MILKVETCH | ||
| LATIN NAME: Astragalus kentrophyta var. kentrophyta | ||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | ||
| Spiny milkvetch grows 10 to 40 cm tall from a strong taproot. The stems and leaves are usually gray in appearance due to the presence of stiff hairs. The leaves have five to seven spine-tipped leaflets. These leaflets are the simplest way to identify this species. The inflorescences consist of one to four flowers in unbranched cluster. The flowers are yellowish-white with a purplish tinge. The fruit is a pod covered in stiff hairs. | ||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | ||
| Spiny milkvetch grows in active to semi-stabilized sand dune flats. | ||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | ||
| This species is found in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland ecoregion. | ||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | ||
| Spiny milkvetch is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is rare and highly regionally restricted in the province. Local population sizes vary. Possible threats have been identified for this species. | ||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY SPINY MILKVETCH | ||
| * Are the leaflets spine-tipped? * Are the flowers yellowish with a purplish tinge? * Do pods have stiff hairs? * Did you find it in southwestern Saskatchewan |
||
If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found spiny milkvetch! |
||
