Thursday, September 15, 2011

Oxytropis campestris (see comments) not Astragalus sp., a yellow flowers species from Wyoming....I love silvery tufting plants


Scott, GrayC, and Kevin T brought the seeds back from their prairie/badlands/... collecting trip. Among their targets, were plants that could potentially be used on green roofs. Brad germinated the seeds, and grew the plants. Some are now planted in a cold frame with soil amended for maximum drainage. It's a beautiful little clumpy rosette, a silver tuft, in the Fabaceae. I have it as Astragalus agrestis, the Purple Milkvetch....a yellow flowered form I suppose.. I'll check the label tomorrow. The genus is astoundingly large; The Wikipedia article quotes a paper by David G Frodin (2004) suggesting there are around 3,000 species in Astragalus. Wow.

2 comments:

Scott Aker said...

Chris,

It's an unusual time for this thing to bloom. Flowers allowed me to key it out. It is Oxytropis campestris, not Astragalus agrestis as labelled.

ChrisU said...

Cool. Thanks!