Boreal Sweetvetch, Northern Hedysarum: Hedysarum boreale var. boreale (Synonym: Hedysarum boreale ssp. boreale) - Racemes elongating up to 15 cm long with 12-20 carmine, magenta or purple flowers, each measuring from 11-17 mm long. Plants generally branched and with more grayish, short, stiff and appressed hairs than the next variety. Ventral surface of leaflets faintly veined. Pods with 2-6 segments. Found from British Columbia east to Alberta and south through Idaho, Montana and South Dakota to Arizona and New Mexico. Also found in the Wallowa Mts. of northeastern Oregon.
MacKenzie Sweetvetch, Northern Hedysarum: Hedysarum boreale var. mackenzii (Synonyms: Hedysarum boreale ssp. mackenzii, Hedysarum mackenzii) - Racemes compact, 2- 6 cm long with 5-15 purple flowers, each measuring from 18-20 mm long. Plants generally unbranched and greenish, the upper leaf surfaces glabrous or with some short, stiff, appressed hairs. Ventral surface of veins conspicuously veined. Pods with 3-8 segments. Found from the Yukon east to Newfoundland and south to southern British Columbia and east to Alberta and Manitoba. Evidently this variety is also found in the Wallowa Mts. of northeastern Oregon.
Yellow Hedysarum, Yellow Sweet-vetch: Hedysarum sulphurescens - Flowers whitish to whitish-yellow. Ventral surface of leaflets conspicuously veined. Racemes elongated, 20-100-flowered, and often one-sided. Flowers 15-18 mm long. Pendant pods with 2-4 obovate segments from 6-8 mm wide. Found along the east side of the Cascade Mts from southern British Columbia south to Okanogan County in north-central Washington and east to Alberta and south through the Rocky Mts to Montana and Wyoming.