trefle.io · Taken Feb 20, 2022 by Nikolai Kurzenko (cc-by-sa)
Fabaceae
Alpine sweetvetch
Hedysarum alpinum
Also known as sweetvetch, alpine hedysarum, Banalia alpina, Echinolobium alpinum
Flowering Plants · Edibles & Herbs · Native Plants · Alpine · Sweetvetch · Boreal · Legume · Nitrogen Fixer · Fabaceae · Edible Roots · Wildflower · Cold Hardy · Medicinal
Alpine sweetvetch is a hardy boreal and alpine perennial legume that prefers cool climates and well-drained, slightly sandy or loamy soils. It tolerates partial shade but blooms most prolifically with several hours of sunlight; water regularly during the growing season while avoiding waterlogged conditions. Known for its edible roots (famously consumed by Indigenous peoples and described by explorers), it also enriches soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen.
Growing conditions
The details behind the basics
- Daily light
- 5 hours
- Watering
- Water moderately, keeping soil evenly moist during the growing season · Every 7-14 days
- Maintenance
- Low
- Soil
- loam
- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Temperature
- -25°F to 95°F
- Cycle
- Perennial
- Propagation
- Seed
Hardiness
USDA 4b-9b
Form & growth
Mature size and habit
- Mature height
- 20 ft – 40 ft
- Spread
- 20 ft
- Spacing
- 18 in apart
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Root depth
- Medium
- Flowers
- Purple
- Foliage
- Green · Fine
Ecology & origin
Where it belongs and what it brings
- Native to
- Alberta, Altay, Amur, British Columbia, Buryatiya, Central European Rus, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, East European Russia, India, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Labrador, Manchuria
- Attracts
- Bees, Butterflies, Moths
Sources: trefle, usda
More Hedysarum
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Hedysarum boreale subsp. boreale
Hedysarum boreale subsp. boreale
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White sweetvetch
Hedysarum sulphurescens
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Hedysarum boreale subsp. mackenziei
Hedysarum boreale subsp. mackenziei
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Utah sweet-vetch
Hedysarum boreale
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