Fruit is a lomentum, with segments that are glabrous, pubescent, bristly, or spiny, and break into single-seeded sections on ripening.

Some species, such as Hedysarum alpinum also known as Alpine sweetvetch or wild potato, were eaten by the Inuit to help ward off the effects of scurvy due to it being rich in vitamin C, containing about 21 mg/100g.

[4] Krakauer subsequently postulated that the seeds were stored wet in a plastic bag, which may have created a toxic by-product.

Krakauer explains that he came across the research of Ronald Hamilton, who had concluded that the neurotoxin oxalyldiaminopropionic acid (ODAP) in the wild potato seed was responsible for a degenerative disease known as lathyrism.

In August 2013, Krakauer sent a modest sample of the seeds for testing, discovering that they contained ".394 per cent beta-ODAP by weight, a concentration well within the levels known to cause lathyrism in humans."