Canada Milkvetch
Astragalus canadensis
A stout prairie legume with dense spikes of creamy white pea flowers on upright stems, fixing nitrogen through a deep root system and spreading slowly by rhizome. Host plant for several blues and skippers, and heavily worked by bumblebees. Unlike many milkvetches it lacks the selenium accumulation that makes the genus notorious as locoweed.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 1–4 ft
- Spacing
- 1.5–2 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- May, June, July
- Bloom colors
- white
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, butterflies, hummingbirds, larval host
- Landscape uses
- groundcover, naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, CA, CO, CT, DC, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY