Wildflower (forb) · Fabaceae
Purple locoweed
Oxytropis lambertii
Purple locoweed is recorded as native to 15 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 413 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Purple locoweed at a glance
- Native in
- 413 counties, across 15 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 1.4 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Purple locoweed is recorded as native to 15 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 413 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 413 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 6 counties
- Colorado 40 counties
- Iowa 11 counties
- Kansas 54 counties
- Minnesota 28 counties
- Missouri 2 counties
- Montana 22 counties
- Nebraska 57 counties
- New Mexico 23 counties
- North Dakota 40 counties
- Oklahoma 30 counties
- South Dakota 41 counties
- Texas 35 counties
- Utah 11 counties
- Wyoming 13 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1.4 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 24 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 6.4 to 9
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Red
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- Severe
- Nitrogen fixation
- Low
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Fabaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- OXLA3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Oxytropis lambertii (PLANTS symbol OXLA3).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources