Oxytropis helvetica

Oxytropis helvetica Scheele (Fabaceae) is a low, cushion-forming perennial herb of European alpine and subalpine grasslands and rocky slopes, occurring chiefly in the Swiss, Italian, and Austrian Alps and the Carpathians at elevations between roughly 1800 and 2800 m. Plants form dense tufts arising from a stout woody taproot, with very short stems and a basal rosette of imparipinnate leaves 4–10 cm long bearing 15–35 small, lanceolate to elliptic leaflets covered with silvery, appressed silky hairs. The inflorescence is a short, dense, headlike raceme of 5–15 pale yellow to cream-white pea-flowers raised on a slender peduncle slightly exceeding the leaves; the keel terminates in a small purplish tooth, a defining feature of the genus. Pods are sessile, ovoid to oblong, and pubescent. Like other Oxytropis, the species contains toxic indolizidine alkaloids (swainsonine) associated with locoism in livestock and has no documented human medicinal use.