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| ## SHORT-TOO                                                          |
| THED CANADA MILKVETCH {#short-toothed-canada-milkvetch .Title-Header} |
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| *Astragalus canadensis* L. var. *brevidens* (Gandog.) Barneby         |
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| Plant Symbol = ASCAB                                                  |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center, Pullman, WA

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="3.0in" height="1.9916666666666667in"}

Photo by Wayne Crowder, 6/26/2003, NRCS

##### Alternate Names {#alternate-names .Header-3}

Canadian milkvetch, *Astragalus spicatus, Astragalus tristis, Astragalus
mortonii, Astragalus torreyi, Astragalus brevidens*

##### Uses {#uses .Header-3}

Primary uses include wildlife cover and native plant community
restoration.

*Ethnobotanic:* The Blackfoot dug them in the spring for eating
(Kindscher 1987). Canada milkvetch was often used in a broth (Moerman,
1998). []{.mark}

[]{.mark}

*Medical*: The root is analgesic and antihaemorrhagic and can be chewed
or used as a tea to treat chest and back pains, coughs and spiting up of
blood. A poultice made from the chewed root has also been used to treat
cuts (Moerman, 1998).

##### Status {#status .Header-3}

##### Currently, it is not listed as threatened or endangered in the areas where it occurs naturally, though the species is listed in several eastern states. Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant's current status (e.g. threatened or endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values). {#currently-it-is-not-listed-as-threatened-or-endangered-in-the-areas-where-it-occurs-naturally-though-the-species-is-listed-in-several-eastern-states.-please-consult-the-plants-web-site-and-your-state-department-of-natural-resources-for-this-plants-current-status-e.g.-threatened-or-endangered-species-state-noxious-status-and-wetland-indicator-values. .Header-3}

#####  {#section .Header-3}

##### Description {#description .Header-3}

*General*: Legume family (Fabaceae). Short-toothed Canada milkvetch is a
native, rhizomatous, perennial legume. It has a lower, comparatively
more robust growth than *A. canadensis* var. *mortonii.* The erect or
sometimes horizontal and ascending stems are usually 6 -- 22 inches
long, herbage usually paler green. The leaves are usually 2 -- 6 inches
long. The leaves are smooth or sometimes with minute hairs giving a
grayish appearance; with 15 to 23 leaflets that are 1/4 to 1 1/4 inches
long. The small hairs of the leaves and stems are shaped like picks,
attached in the middle. The flowers are yellowish white, straw colored
to greenish white, sometimes tinged with dull purple, with a pea flower
shape, located at the ends of long stalks. The fruit is a grooved pod,
10 to 15 millimeters long and divided into two cells with usually 18 --
25 seeds. (Barneby, 1964)

Chromosome number: 2N=16 (Hu, et al, 2006)

*Distribution*: *Astragalus canadensis* var. *brevidens* occurs nearly
throughout the western and northern Great and Columbia Basins, from east
central and northeastern California to interior Washington and southern
British Columbia, east to the upper Missouri River in southwestern
Montana, the upper North Platte River in southern Wyoming and
northwestern Colorado, northern Utah and central Nevada and southwestern
Utah. (Barneby, 1964)

For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this
species on the PLANTS Web site.

*Habitat*: It is found commonly with sagebrush but ascends along water
courses into dry habitat pine forest, is widespread, common and locally
abundant, often forming extensive clumps or colonies, nearly throughout
the western and northern Great and Columbia Basins. (Barneby, 1964)

##### Adaptation {#adaptation .Header-3}

Short-toothed Canada milkvetch is found in moist, but often summer-dry
bottomlands, ditches, creek banks, lake shores, hillsides around springs
and seeps, alkaline meadows and depressions on rolling plains, rarely in
dry (or apparently dry) sandy or gravelly soils of brushy hills or lava
flows, at elevations of 750 feet in the north but commonly at 1500-8100
feet, mostly in stiff, often alkaline, water deposited soils of diverse
origin. (Barneby, 1964)

##### Establishment {#establishment .Header-3}

*Propagation by Seed*: Short-toothed Canada milkvetch seed should be
scarified before planting. It has potential for high incidence of hard
seed in the order of 85 to 90 percent. Scarified seed of good quality
should germinate at a range of 85 to 90 percent or more. Plant seed in a
firm, weed-free seed bed. Seed should be kept shallow, at ½ inch or
less. Emergence in a controlled temperature setting in a growth chamber
occurred in four days with temperature set at 70^0^ F. Early indications
at Pullman, WA are that short-toothed Canada milkvetch should be spring
seeded.

The average number of seeds per pound is 300,000, based on work with one
selection at the Pullman Plant Materials Center.

##### Management {#management .Header-3}

Seed production hinges on successful cross pollination of flowers by
insects. Careful thought should be given to this fact when applying
pesticides in the vicinity of Canada milkvetch plants.

##### Pests and Potential Problems {#pests-and-potential-problems .Header-3}

##### Short-toothed Canada milkvetch may be subject to predation by cutworms and rodents such as gophers which reduce the number of plants in the stand. {#short-toothed-canada-milkvetch-may-be-subject-to-predation-by-cutworms-and-rodents-such-as-gophers-which-reduce-the-number-of-plants-in-the-stand. .Header-3}

##### Environmental Concerns {#environmental-concerns .Header-3}

##### Short-toothed Canada milkvetch has the potential for causing locoism in elk and livestock. Plants may contain a nitrotoxin (3-nitropropanoic acid) which is very detrimental to the animals.  {#short-toothed-canada-milkvetch-has-the-potential-for-causing-locoism-in-elk-and-livestock.-plants-may-contain-a-nitrotoxin-3-nitropropanoic-acid-which-is-very-detrimental-to-the-animals. .Header-3}

#####  {#section-1 .Header-3}

##### Plant samples of the Pullman Plant Materials Center selection were sent to the USDA Agricultural Research Service Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory in 2003 for analysis. Vegetative and flower stage materials tested positive for nitrotoxin. Seed tested negative. {#plant-samples-of-the-pullman-plant-materials-center-selection-were-sent-to-the-usda-agricultural-research-service-poisonous-plant-research-laboratory-in-2003-for-analysis.-vegetative-and-flower-stage-materials-tested-positive-for-nitrotoxin.-seed-tested-negative. .Header-3}

#####  {#section-2 .Header-3}

##### Cultivars, Improved, and Selected Materials (and area of origin) {#cultivars-improved-and-selected-materials-and-area-of-origin .Header-3}

Currently, there are no known cultivars of short-toothed Canada
milkvetch on the commercial market.

The Pullman Washington Plant Materials Center has a selection of
short-toothed Canada milkvetch that is scheduled for release. It was
collected at Silver Lake in Lake County in south central Oregon.

'Sunrise' Canada milkvetch (*Astragalus canadensis*)was released with
exclusive production rights in 1997 by the South Dakota Agricultural
Experiment Station (Boe and Fluharty, 1998). 'Sunrise' originated from a
native population near Brookings, SD. In March, 2006 seed was not
available of this release (Lund, 2006).

The Bismarck North Dakota Plant Materials Center has worked with a
selection of Canada milkvetch but does not plan to release the selection
for commercial production.

#####  {#section-3 .Header-3}

Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

##### References {#references .Header-3}

Adcock, J.L. and R.E. Keiss. 1969. Locoism in elk. *Bulletin of the
Wildlife Disease Association,* 5: 121-124.

Barneby, R.C. 1964. *Atlas of North American Astragalus*. part II. vol
13. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. NY, NY.

Benn, M., Y. Bai, et al. 1995. Aliphatic nitro-compounds in *Astragalus
canadensis*. *Phytochemistry Oxford*, 40: 1629-1631.

Boe, A. and K. Fluharty. 1998. Registration of \'Sunrise\' Canada
milkvetch. *Crop Science,* 38: 884.

Boe, A. and K. Fluharty. 1993. Reproductive biology of a Canada
milk-vetch population from eastern South Dakota. *Prairie Naturalist,*
25: 65-72.

Brashier, Mary. 2000. Friends and foes in the seed pod. *Farm and Home
Research*, 51: 16.

Davis, A.M. 1972. Selenium accumulation in Astragalus species. *Agron.
Journal*, 64: 751-754.

Davis, A.M. 1982. Crude protein, crude fiber, tannin and oxalate
concentrations of 33 *Astragalus* species. *Journal of Range
Management,* 35: 32-34.

Eig, Alexander. 1955. *Systematic studies on Astragali of the Near
East*. Israel Scientific Press, Jerusalem.

Falken, M.C. and R.M Pengra,. 1976. Rhizobia from Native Legumes.
*Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science*, 55: 172.

Gallardo, R., E. Domingues and J.M. Munoz. 1994. Pollen-ovule ratio,
pollen size and breeding system in *Astragalus* (Fabaceae) subgenus
*Epiglottis*: A pollen and seed allocation approach. *American Journal
of Botany*, 8: 1611-1619.

Goodson, C.C., D.R Parker, C. Amrhein and Y. Zhang,. 2003. Soil selenium
uptake and root system development in plant taxa differing in Se
accumulating capability. *The New Phytologist,* 159: 391-401.

Head, S.C. 1955. *A mitotic chromosome study in the genus Astragalus.*
Thesis (M.S. in Botany). Washington State University. Pullman.

Herman, F.J. 1966. *Notes on Western Range Forbs:* Cruciferae *through*
Compositae. Ag. Handbook No. 293. USDA Forest Service. US Government
Printing Office. Washington, DC.

Holden, D.J. 1952. *Developmental Anatomy and Dehiscence of the Fruit
of* Astragalus canadensis L. Thesis (M.S.) South Dakota State Univ.,
Brookings.

Hu, J., M.J. Sanderson and M.F. Wojciechowski.

2006\. Astragalus in
<http://ginger.ucdavis.edu/astragalus/astragalus.home.htm> \[online:
cited August 28, 2006\].

James, L.F., et al. \[Eds.\] 1989. Swainsonine and related glycosidase
inhibitors. *Swainsonine and Related Glycosidase Inhibitors Symposium*,
Logan, UT. August 10-14, 1987.

Jensen, N. 2002. Canadian Milkvetch, *Astragalus* *canadensis* L. (Plant
Fact Sheet) in [http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)
\[online: cited March 6, 2006\].

Jones, M.E. 1923. *Revision of North-American Species of Astragalus*.
Salt Lake City, UT.

Kindscher, K. 1987. *An ethnobotanical guide: edible wild plants of the
prairie*. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence.

Larson, K.J. 1993. Astragalus adsurgens *Pall. (upstanding
milkvetch)**:** Economic botany, germination evaluation, and forage
quality in Eastern Washington*. Thesis (M.S.) Washington State
University, Pullman**.**

Lund, C., (March 7) 2006. Personal communication. Norfarm Seeds, Inc.
218-463-3521. Roseau, MN.

Moerman, D. 1998. *Native American ethnobotany*. Timber Press, Portland,
Oregon.

Moore, L.E. 2003. Canadian Milkvetch (Plant Guide). in
[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/) \[online: cited March
6, 2006\].

Naeem, S., S.F. Tjossem, et al. 1999. Plant neighborhood diversity and
production. *Ecoscience* 6: 355-365.

Platt, W.J., G.R. Hill, and S. Clark. 1974. Seed production in a prairie
legume *Astragalus canadensis*. Interactions between pollination
pre-dispersal seed predation and plant density *Oecologia (Berlin)*, 17:
55-64.

Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory. Locoweed (*Astragalus* and
*Oxytropis* spp.) USDA Agriculture Research Service. in
[http://www.pprl.ars.usda.gov](http://www.pprl.ars.usda.gov/) \[online:
cited March 6,2006\].

Singh, Y.N., , A. Boe, J. Norberg and J. Wickre. 1992. Effect of
seasonal and ecotypic variation on toxicity of Canada milkvetch
(*Astragalus canadensis*) *IVth Pan American Symposium on Animal, Plant
and Microbial Toxins (IST)*, Campinas, Brazil.

Stubbendick, J. and E.C. Conrad. 1989. *Common Legumes of the Great
Plains*. Univ. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Tlusty, B., J.M. Grossman and P.H Graham. 2004. Selection of rhizobia
for prairie legumes used in restoration and reconstruction programs in
Minnesota. *Canadian Journal of Microbiology,* 50: 977-983.

Wood, B.W. 1971. *Response of Canada milkvetch (*Astragalus canadensis
var. mortonii *(Nutt.) Wats.) to range and forest improvement practices
in Northeastern Oregon.* Thesis (Ph. D.) Oregon State Univ.

Zaczkowski, N.K. 1973. Notes on North Dakota *Astragalus* spp
distribution. *Proceedings of the North Dakota Academy of Science,* 27:
42.

##### Prepared By {#prepared-by .Header-3}

*Wayne Crowder*

USDA NRCS, Plant Materials Center, Pullman, Washington

##### Species Coordinator {#species-coordinator .Header-3}

*Wayne Crowder*

USDA NRCS, Plant Materials Center, Pullman, Washington

##### Edited: 060905 jsp {#edited-060905-jsp .Header-4}

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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