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Oxytropis lambertii

Common name:	Crazy Weed	Family:	Leguminosae
Author:	Pursh.	Botanical references:	43, 200, 235
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	The plant is toxic to cattle, does it concentrate selenium from the soil[200]? Horses that eat this plant become very difficult to handle and can imagine that a pebble is a large rock or that a wide stream is only narrow[207]. The plant contains toxins, possibly indolizidine alkaloids. The toxin can accumulate in the body and causes trembling, high excitability, paralysis and death[274].
Range:	N. America - Minnesota to N Dakota, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, south to Texas and New Mexico
Habitat:	Dry prairies, calcareous gravels and bluffs[43]. Limestone outcrops in Texas[274].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Aragallus articulatus[P] O. lambertii ssp. bigelovii[P] O. patens[P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Lambert's Crazyweed [P], Stemless Locoweed [B],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Fabales. Renamed to Fabaceae -- Pea family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.3m. It is hardy to zone 3. It is in flower from July to August. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). It can fix Nitrogen. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Root; Seed.

Root[105, 161, 177]. The whole plant, including the roots, is eaten by horses[257]. No further details are given, but caution is advised, see notes at top of page.
Used to make a mush, or parched and used for food[257]. This report is probably referring to the seeds[K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Easily grown in an ordinary garden soil but prefers a sandy loam[1]. Best in a deep, gritty perfectly drained soil in full sun[200]. Strongly resents winter wet[200].
A very ornamental[1] and variable plant[235].
Plants resent root disturbance and so should be pot-grown then and planted out into their permanent positions whilst still small[200].
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria called Rhizobia. These bacteria form nodules on the roots of the plants and fix atmospheric nitrogen, plants may fail to flourish due to the absence of the appropriate Rhizobium species. Some of the nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[200].

Propagation

Pre-soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water and then sow in a greenhouse in early spring. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as the cotyledons emerge in order to avoid damage to the root. Grow them on in the greenhouse and plant them out the following spring[200].
Division in spring[1]. Since the plant resents root disturbance this might not be a good idea.

Scent

Flowers: Fresh: The flowers have a sweet smell of carnations[274].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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