Chinese Milkvetch (Astragalus sinicus) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Chinese milkvetch is a low pea-family plant that farmers in East Asia have long sown in rice paddies to enrich the soil. Bacteria in its roots capture nitrogen from the air, so plowing the plants under works as a natural fertilizer. It is native to China and is a well-known honey plant in Japan, but it is not known to grow wild in the United States.

Appearance

Growth form: Stems sprawl along the ground; plants stand about 4–10 in (10–25 cm) tall.
Leaves: Feather-like leaves made of several pairs of small oval leaflets, often notched at the tip.
Flowers: Around ten small pea-like flowers, pinkish purple, form a ring at the top of a long stalk; each cluster is about 1 in (3 cm) across.
Fruit: Beaked pods spread out like the spokes of a wheel and turn black when ripe.

Look-alikes

Red cloverTrifolium pratense

Red clover has three leaflets per leaf and a dense, ball-shaped flower head. Chinese milkvetch has many paired leaflets and a looser ring of flowers.

Why they get mixed upBoth are pea-family plants with rounded pinkish-purple flower clusters.

White cloverTrifolium repens

White clover has three leaflets and white flower heads. Chinese milkvetch has feather-like leaves with many leaflets and pinkish-purple flowers.

Why they get mixed upBoth grow low in open grassy ground with rounded flower clusters.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: Rice paddies
Farm fields
Range: Native to China and grown in Korea and Japan as a winter ; in Japan it has also escaped to paddy edges and fallow fields. It is not known to be established in the wild anywhere in the US.
Preferred conditions: Likes moist ground. Sown in fall, it grows through the winter and blooms in spring.