Fassett’s Locoweed
A globally rare Wisconsin endemic survives where periodic lake-level changes expose open sand before shrubs and trees can close in.
Artwork inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe
Fassett’s locoweed is known only from Wisconsin. It occupies an unusual zone around seepage lakes whose water levels rise and fall over years: high water suppresses woody vegetation, while falling water exposes bare shore where the plant can grow and set seed before competitors return.
That dependence makes a seemingly empty beach part of the habitat cycle. Shoreline development, trampling, vehicles, invasive plants, and altered hydrology can damage populations, while high water can hide them without meaning extinction. Exact occurrences are sensitive; learn the ecology from agencies and protected overlooks rather than seeking or sharing coordinates.
- Federal status
- Threatened
- Natural range
- Only Wisconsin
- Family
- Pea family
Quick guide
- Read the open shore
- Sparse sand between water and shrubs is a dynamic habitat, not unused land
- Read the open shore
- Sparse sand between water and shrubs is a dynamic habitat, not unused land
Understand the lake cycle without pursuing a rare plant
- Read the open shore
- Sparse sand between water and shrubs is a dynamic habitat, not unused land.
- Check the leaves
- Silvery pinnate leaflets and pea-family flowers distinguish the plant when viewed legally from a route.
- Keep locations protected
- Do not post precise occurrence coordinates or leave paths to obtain a photograph.
- Think in years
- Water-level cycles, seed banks, and competition matter more than one season’s visible count.
Good to know
This is not the toxic western livestock “locoweed” story implied by the common name; it is a distinct, rare Wisconsin shoreline taxon.
Notice these
- silvery leaflets
- pale-purple flower cluster
- open sandy shore