You have to admire a flower willing to grow in an exposed pile of rocks. Plains milkvetch is just that kind of flower. Sometimes called cushion milkvetch, this a Montana native. It’s a markedly tough plant, preferring to grow in dry and gravelly locations. This makes the edge of the road leading down to my lakefront perfect habitat for the low, tufted plant.
Though not exceptionally showy,
plains milkvetch in bloom are attractive enough, and the local bees most
certainly appreciate them. They are among
the first wave of prairie flowers to bloom.
I often find them sharing rocky shoulders of earth with tufted phlox.
The bad news? Plains milkvetch is poisonous to both
wildlife and livestock.
Posted is a photograph of plains
milkvetch I captured on a walk down to the lake yesterday. The dandelion gives some idea of size.
— Mitchell Hegman
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