Locoweed is a common name in North America for any plant that produces swainsonine, an alkaloid harmful to livestock. Worldwide, swainsonine is produced by a small number of species, most of them in three genera of the flowering plant family Fabaceae: Oxytropis and Astragalus in North America, and Swainsona in Australia. The term locoweed usually refers only to the North American species of Oxytropis and Astragalus, but this article includes the other species as well. Some references may incorrectly list Datura as locoweed.
Astragalus is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Common names include milkvetch, locoweed and goat's-thorn. Some pale-flowered vetches are similar in appearance, but they are more vine-like than Astragalus.
Astragalus alpinus is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name alpine milkvetch. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.
Rhododendron groenlandicum is a flowering shrub with white flowers and evergreen leaves that is used to make a herbal tea.
Oxytropis campestris, the field locoweed, is a plant native to Northern Europe, the mountains of Central & Southern Europe, the Northwestern United States and all of Canada, sometimes grown as an ornamental plant.
Actaea rubra, the red baneberry or chinaberry, is a poisonous herbaceous flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to North America.
Spiraea splendens is a shrub of the rose family (Rosaceae) native to the western mountains of North America, from California to British Columbia, commonly known as dense-flowered spiraea, rose meadowsweet, rosy spiraea, subalpine spiraea, and mountain spiraea. It is commonly found at elevations between 2,000 feet (610 m) and 11,000 feet (3,400 m) on inland mountain ranges. The plant is adapted to cold, moist, rocky slopes, subalpine forests and meadows.
Astragalus canadensis is a common and widespread member of the milkvetch genus in the legume family, known commonly as Canadian milkvetch. The plant is found throughout Canada and the United States in many habitats including wetlands, woodlands, and prairies.
Oxytropis is a genus of plants in the legume family. It includes over 600 species native to subarctic to temperate regions of North America and Eurasia. It is one of three genera of plants known as locoweeds, and are notorious for being toxic to grazing animals. The other locoweed genus is the closely related Astragalus. Most oxtropis species are native to Eurasia and North America, but several species are native to the Arctic. These are hairy perennial plants which produce raceme inflorescences of pink, purple, white, or yellow flowers which are generally pea-like but have distinctive sharply beaked keels. The stems are leafless, the leaves being all basal. The plant produces legume pods containing the seeds.
Pedicularis groenlandica is a showy flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae commonly known as elephant's head, little pink elephant, elephantella, or similar common names inspired by the resemblance of the flower to the head of an elephant. It is also less commonly known as butterfly tongue for the long beak on the flower. Like many other plants in genus Pedicularis, it is a parasitic plant and depends on host plants to survive.
Corallorhiza mertensiana, or Pacific coralroot, is a coralroot orchid native to the shady conifer forests of northwestern North America. It also goes by the common names Western coralroot and Mertens' coralroot. Corallorhiza mertensiana was previously considered a subspecies of Corallorhiza maculata but was given species rank in 1997 by Freudenstein.
Phacelia sericea, the silky phacelia or blue alpine phacelia, is a showy perennial species of Phacelia endemic to western North America. It grows mainly at subalpine to alpine elevations in forest openings or above treeline among rocks and sand. Sericea comes from the Latin sericeus, or silky, referring to the fine hairs on the leaves and stem.
Sedum lanceolatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names spearleaf stonecrop and lanceleaf stonecrop.
Oxytropis lambertii commonly known as purple locoweed, Colorado locoweed, Lambert's crazy weed, or Lambert’s Locoweed is a species of flowering plant in the legume family.
Oxytropis sericea is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names white locoweed, white point-vetch, whitepoint crazyweed, and silky crazyweed. It is native to western North America from Yukon and British Columbia south through the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Plains.
Salix brachycarpa is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common names barren-ground willow, small-fruit willow and shortfruit willow.
Alnus alnobetula is a common tree widespread across much of Europe, Asia, and North America. Many sources refer to it as Alnus viridis, the green alder, but botanically this is considered an illegitimate name synonymous with Alnus alnobetula subsp. fruticosa.
Erigeron speciosus is a widespread North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae known by the common names aspen fleabane, garden fleabane, and showy fleabane.
