Astragalus alopecurus

 This is a species of Euro-Asian origin that is very rare and localized in Europe; in Italy, it is only found in the Aosta Valley (in the Cogne Valley and Valtournenche). Large and extremely beautiful, this plant does not go unnoticed. It has erect stems, which are covered in a fine down, as is the whole plant, and large imparipinnate leaves consisting of 35-45 elliptical segments. The inflorescence has yellow flowers that form a dense globular raceme, they are sessile at the upper leaf axil, with scalar flowering starting from the base.

In 1867, enraptured by its beauty, Carrel, a canon and botanist from the Aosta Valley, described it as "le roi des Astragales".