Flower:

Flowers are in densely packed spike-like clusters up to 6 inches long at the end of a long stalk arising from a leaf axil. Individual flowers are about ½ inch long, a typical pea shape but elongated. The color ranges from pale yellow to greenish to creamy white. One plant has several to many spikes on many branching stems.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are compound in groups of 15 to 31. Leaflets are to 1¼ inches long and ½ inch wide, becoming smaller at the end of the leaf. The shape is eliptical to egg-shaped, with a rounded base and blunt point at the tip. Leaflets are slightly hairy, and toothless. Stems are ridged, slightly hairy, and turn red in strong sun.

Fruit:

Fruit is a smooth oval 2-chambered pod about ½ inch long, with the remains of the style forming a “tail” at the top.

Notes:

Native legumes like Canada Milkvetch are an important part of the Minnesota ecology. Canada Milkvetch and Wild Licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota) seed is a food source for Acanthoscelides aureolus, a tiny weevil, the beginning of the predatory food chain. Canada Milkvetch makes a great garden plant and is adaptable to any reasonably well-drained soil, fixing nitrogen into the soil and providing erosion control. Non-natives like Chickpea Milkvetch (Astragalus cicer) are often used for these purposes instead, since, being “pest-free”, they are not subject to the insect/herbivore complex that keeps native species populations under control, which, of course, allows the non-natives to flourish unchecked.