It is native to grasslands in the Canadian Prairie of central Canada and in the mid-west and Great Plains of the United States from Texas to Manitoba and west to Arizona and Montana.

[7][3] Oxytropis lambertii is a perennial herb producing a patch of basal leaves around the root crown, and several showy erect inflorescences.

The inflorescence produces several flowers, each borne in a tubular purple or pinkish calyx of sepals covered thinly in silver hairs.

The pealike flower corolla is reddish or bluish purple with a lighter patch at the base of the banner.

The Oxytropis lambertii plant is one of the locoweeds most frequently implicated in livestock poisoning.