Tufted plant with hairy, silvery foliage. Flowering scape to 15 cm high in plants in above photos. Flowers are bright pink, in a globose spike about 4 cm long. This globose spike is quite helpful in distinguishing it from our other Oxytropis species (Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing Saskatchewan Plants). Flowers are 2 cm long, measured from stem to tip of the petals. The keel is 1.5 cm long measured from the stem.
Leaves are pinnate, 9 cm long, I counted 13 to 17 leaflets. The leaflets are lanceolate, 1 cm long and 4 mm wide, each pair of leaflets forming a tight V shape.
Could be mistaken for Astragalus missouriensis, both plants bloom about the same time, have grey foliage, pinnate leaves, and pinkish flowers in globose spikes. However that plant has a rounded keel in its flower, whereas Oxytropis besseyi has a pointed keel in its flower.
Habitat is dry hillsides, in the extreme southwest of the province. Rare, listed as an S2 by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.
Photographs taken May 21st and June 19th, dry, clay hillsides of the Frenchman River Valley, West Block of the Grasslands Park, about 400 km SW of our home in Regina, SK.
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