Canada Milk Vetch - Astragalus canadensis

 Category: Perennial, Legume

Common Name: Canadian Milkvetch

Scientific Name: Astragalus canadensis

Sun Conditions:Full Sun/Partial Shade

Soil Conditions: Dry to Moist

Height Range: 6-18 in

Width Range: 12-18 in

Growth Habit: Summer (June-August)

Growth Rate: Creamy white to pale green

Bloom Color: Yes

Bloom Time: Green

Seed/Fruit Production: Upright

Foliage Color: Fast

Hardiness Zones: 3 to 9

Evergreen: No (herbaceous; dies back to a woody rootstock each winter)

Deer Resistant: No — deer, rabbits, groundhogs and livestock browse it (NC State lists it as a deer-browsing plant)

Forage: Browsed by deer, wild turkey, groundhogs, rabbits and livestock — BUT toxic to livestock (see Poisonous); not a safe pasture forage

Poisonous: YES — TOXIC. Contains nitro-compound glycosides (3-nitropropanoic acid/3-nitropropanol); livestock fatalities have been reported, and NC State flags it as a problem for horses. Keep it out of grazed pastures.

Wildlife Value Highlights: Nectar/pollen for bumblebees, honeybees, leafcutter and mason bees, plus butterflies and hummingbirds; seeds eaten by birds; nitrogen-fixing legume

Ecological/Landscape Use: Prairie plantings, meadows, native/pollinator gardens, woodland edges; fixes nitrogen; stems may sprawl without neighboring plants for support

Lepidoptera Supported by Family/Group: Host for Clouded Sulphur, Orange Sulphur, Eastern Tailed-Blue, Western Tailed-Blue, Silvery Blue, Northern Cloudywing, Southern Cloudywing, Silver-spotted Skipper, and Wild Indigo Duskywing

Lepidoptera Supported by Species: Colias philodice, Colias eurytheme, Cupido comyntas, Cupido amyntula, Glaucopsyche lygdamus, Thorybes pylades, Thorybes bathyllus, Epargyreus clarus, Erynnis baptisiae

For More Info: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=280334