UTAH SWEETVETCH

Hedysarum boreale

In spite of its name, Utah sweetvetch is very widely distributed throughout much of western North America. It is a characteristic wildflower of the foothills and is also common in the sagebrush steppe and in cold desert shrub communities. Its deep pink pea flowers are held in showy spikes above the leaves, which are quite lush and green. After flowering, the plants produce distinctive seed pods that look like chains of flattened green disks, each one containing a single seed. These are quite unlike the fruits of any other native Intermountain legume. Utah sweetvetch is a great plant for a meadow planting with native grasses like bluebunch wheatgrass and shining muttongrass, and combines well with Lewis flax, Hercules buckwheat, Wasatch penstemon, and fragrant puccoon.