Ascending Purple Milk-Vetch: Blue and Purple Flowers

Ascending Purple Milk Vetch flower cluster © SB

The dense purple and blue flower clusters of Ascending Purple Milk-Vetch remind me of clover.

And that's what I thought it might be the first time I saw it — though I've never seen clover the colour of this milk-vetch.

Ascending Purple Milk-Vetch flower stalks are usually erect, and, well, ascending...

Except when they're weak, and slump along the ground...

The flower clusters on Ascending Purple Milk-Vetch are up to two inches long, and when they're upright, rise well above the clearly vetch-like multiple leaflets.

Even from a distance, this is a very pretty Prairie wildflower, with petals shading through lilac, lavendar and white.

It's small enough, though, that long grass can overwhelm it. (Or hide the particularly lovely clusters from this photographer, who doesn't practice clear-cutting other vegetation for each shot.)

Flowers of Ascending Purple Milk-Vetch, with leaflets in background. © SB

Ascending Purple Milk-Vetch plants.  © SB 

Prairie Wildflower: Ascending Purple Milk-Vetch .  

Location: 1&2: Near Muenster, and 3: in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Photo Date: 1&2: July 9, 2015, and 3: June 26, 2015.  

~~~~~