|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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. |
|||||||||
| FIELD LOCOWEED | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Oxytropis campestris var. dispar | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Field locoweed grows from a stout taproot. This plant may have two different types of leaves. The main leaves have nine to 19 leaflets that are hairy on both sides. The inflorescence stalk is 10 to 40 cm tall. There are eight to 20 flowers in each inflorescence. The sepals have white and brown or black hairs. The petals are white or cream-coloured. The pod has short white and black hairs. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Field locoweed grows in sandy grasslands and open woods. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in eastern Saskatchewan in the Aspen Parkland and Boreal Transition ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Field locoweed is endangered in Saskatchewan because is extremely rare and only two locations are known for this species. Both populations are locally sparse and possible threats have been identified. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY FIELD LOCOWEED | |||||||||
| *Are there leaflets opposite? * Are flowers pink or blue? * Do the plants lack a definite stem? * Did you find it in eastern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found field locoweed! | |||||||||
