|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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. |
|||||||||
| PURPLE LOCOWEED | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Oxytropis lambertii var. lambertii | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Purple locoweed grows from a stout taproot. The leaves can be of two different types. The principal leaves have seven to 19 leaflets. The inflorescence stalk can be as tall as 30 cm. There are 10 to 20 flowers in each inflorescence. The sepals have long hairs on the surface and the petals are reddish-purple in colour. The pod is covered in silky hairs and may or may not have a stalk. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Purple locoweed is often found on gravely prairie slopes and summits of river bluffs. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southeastern Saskatchewan in Moist Mixed Grassland and Aspen Parkland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Purple locoweed is vulnerable in Saskatchewan because it is rare or uncommon and is restricted to a small region of the province. Local population sizes vary and possible threats have been identified for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY PURPLE LOCOWEED | |||||||||
| * Are there two kinds of leaves? * Are flowers purple? * Are the pods covered in silky hairs? * Did you find it in southeastern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found purple locoweed! | |||||||||
