Alpine legumes?

[Giles]

...was wondering if anyone had suggestions as to true alpine legumes worth growing..
..thinking of above-the-tree-line, rather than just small-and-hardy.
Thank you.

[astragalus]

Oxytropis jacquinii from the Dolomites for a start. 

[ian mcdonald]

O. campestris and O. halleri as well.

[Lori S.]

There are any number of North American ones.  Well, I probably shouldn't say "any number", but quite a few.  Whether they are "worth growing" or not may be subjective.
Some local alpines, Oxytropis podocarpa:
 

Astragalus alpinus:


I think this is Astragalus vexilliflexus v. vexilliflexus:


Others, indicated as "alpine" from Pojar-MacKinnon Alpine Plants of British Columbia, Alberta & Northwest North America:
Astragalus kentrophyta var. tegetarius, polaris, molybdenus, whitneyi, australis var. cottonii, microcystis, vexilliflexus var. nubilus, nutzotinensis, australis, robbinsii, bougovii, eucosmus

Oxytropis campestris (already mentioned), sericea, maydelliana, borealis var. viscida and var. suphurea, deflexa, nigrescens, huddelsonii, lagopus, besseyi, scammaniana, arctica, kokrinensis

I'm sure someone who's familiar with the plants of the central and southern Rockies could suggest a lot more.

[Giles]

Thankyou very much for your suggestions.
Oxytropis and Astragalus are two genera I know very little about.
I had got as far as a couple of Lathyrus and then drew a blank.

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Giles, there are several UK Astragalus, alpinus danicus and glycyphyllos. The latter is a lowland plant of limestone areas and would be too rampant for a garden. I have seen danicus a few times. It has blue flowers and is found in grassy sites inland and on the coast. I have only seen alpinus once. It is a rare UK plant. As Lori says, perhaps the foreign ones would be more suitable for garden culture.

[Lori S.]

Giles, the ones I listed are truly alpine.  If you were to expand the criteria to include lower elevation, desert-y species, it would add quite a few very garden-worthy subjects. 

Edit:  And here's a thought... If you were to use the search function on this site, and do separate searches on the words "Oxytropis" and "Astragalus", you'd find photos of many garden-worthy species. 
You might also consider looking at Lupinus, Chesneya, Coronilla, Ebenus, Gueldenstaedtia, Ononis, Onobrychis, and the odd Trifolium - some very desirable plants in each of those, and some that are true alpines.

[Tristan_He]

There are some interesting looking legumes (especially Oxytropis and Trifolium) on the Alplains website - http://www.alplains.com/ that might be worth checking out. (note - haven't used them myself)

Also Floralpin http://www.floralpin.de/index.php lists Gueldenstaedtia himalaica.

[Lori S.]

I (and many other people here, I'm sure) can vouch for Alplains being an excellent seed source with very good germination instructions.   

[Gabriela]

 Hedysarum and Thermopsis can be added to the list - both include few alpines and since you said not only small - Caragana has few small size species (+/- 1 m) and probably even Indigofera.

*Gueldenstaedtia goes by the name of Tibetia now, not that it matters much but is easier to pronounce 

[Giles]

Thank you..  ..much homework to be done...