Milk vetch, Canada

Description

Astragalus canadensis, commonly called Canada milkvetch, is a native perennial legume. It grows to 1.5-3.5 feet tall.

The flowers are attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators. It is a host plant for the western tailed-blue and clouded sulfur butterflies. Primarily bumblebees visit the flowers for nectar. Insects with shorter mouthparts have trouble reaching the nectar. Unlike many milkvetches of the Western states, the foliage of Canada Milkvetch is non-toxic and palatable to mammalian herbivores, including deer, groundhogs, rabbits, and livestock. This plant may be difficult to establish where these animals occur in abundance. The seeds may be eaten occasionally by the Wild Turkey and other upland gamebirds, as well as small rodents, such as the Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel.

Unlike many milk vetches of the Western states, the foliage of Canada Milkvetch is non-toxic and palatable to livestock.

Best grown in evenly moist, well-draining soils in full sun. Tolerant of drought and a wide range of soil types including dry soils and wet soils as long as they are well-draining. Prairie plantings, native gardens, woodland edges, pollinator gardens. This plant has a tendency to sprawl, unless it receives support from adjacent vegetation.

Habitats include moist to slightly dry black soil prairies, sand prairies, typical and sandy savannas, thickets and woodland borders, moist meadows near rivers, and abandoned fields.