Oxytropis lapponica(Wahlenb.) J.Gay

WFO wfo-0000213917 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Oxytropis lapponica, photographed by Oleg Kosterin
fig. a Oleg Kosterin, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-21 / obs. 159205858
Oxytropis lapponica, photographed by Konsta Happonen
fig. b Konsta Happonen, CC0 1.0 / obs. 148247794
Oxytropis lapponica, photographed by Konsta Happonen
fig. c Konsta Happonen, CC0 1.0 / obs. 148247720

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 26 botanical countries

Regions where Oxytropis lapponica is native: Afghanistan, Altay, China North-Central, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Mongolia, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tuva, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Sweden, Switzerland AfghanistanAltayChina North-CentralKazakhstanKirgizstanMongoliaTadzhikistanTibetTranscaucasusTuvaUzbekistanXinjiangEast HimalayaIndiaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaFinlandFranceItalyNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.SwedenSwitzerland
Native distribution of Oxytropis lapponica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
China North-Central CHN
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Mongolia MON
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Finland FIN
France FRA
Italy ITA
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 156 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -24.0 °C -15.4 °C -12.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 10.5 °C 13.9 °C 16.7 °C
Annual rainfall 608 mm 1,331 mm 1,771 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 49 mm 197 mm 357 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 156 research-grade observations of Oxytropis lapponica that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 19 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Astragalus cervini E.Thomas ex Steud.
  • Astragalus cervinii E.Thomas ex Steud.
  • Astragalus lapponicus (Wahlenb.) Burnat
  • Astragalus lapponicus (DC.) Krylov
  • Astragalus valesiacus E.Thomas ex W.D.J.Koch
  • Oxytropis amoena Kar. & Kir.
  • Oxytropis carinthiaca Fischer-Oost.
  • Oxytropis deflexa var. lapponica (Wahlenb.) B.Boivin
  • Oxytropis lapponica (Wahlenb.) Gaudin
  • Oxytropis lapponica var. jacquemontiana Benth. ex Baker
  • Oxytropis lapponica var. xanthantha Baker
  • Oxytropis microrhyncha Strachey & Winterb. ex Bunge
  • Oxytropis microrhyncha Benth. ex Baker
  • Oxytropis montana subsp. lapponica (Wahlenb.) Bonnier & Layens
  • Oxytropis thomasii Gaudin
  • Phaca frigida var. lapponica (Wahlenb.) Hartm.
  • Phaca lapponica Wahlenb.
  • Phaca montana Wahlenb.
  • Spiesia lapponica (Wahlenb.) Kuntze

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.