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American bird's-foot trefoil, American deervetch, deer-vetch, prairie trefoil, Spanish clover, Spanish lotus

chaparral bird's-foot trefoil, large leaf lotus, large-flower lotus

Habit Herbs, annual, solitary or cespitose, green, 0.5–6(–12) dm, not fleshy, glabrate to ± pilose; taprooted. Herbs, perennial, cespitose, sometimes robust, grayish or green, 1–4(–15) dm, not fleshy, ± densely puberulent or strigillose; rhizomatous, woody based.
Stems

1–10+, erect to procumbent, branched proximally, herbaceous, leafy.

1–5+, decumbent to erect, branched, herbaceous, often striate, leafy.

Leaves

pinnate;

stipules glandlike;

subsessile to short-petiolate;

rachis 0.5–3(–4) mm, not flattened;

leaflets (1–)3(–5), blades obovate, ovate, or elliptic to lanceolate, margins denticulate or entire, apex acute, surfaces sparsely appressed-hairy.

irregularly pinnate;

stipules glandlike, conic; petiolate or sessile;

rachis 2–3.5(–5.5) mm, not flattened;

leaflets 7–9(–12), blades usually elliptic to obovate, sometimes ovate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces sparsely to densely puberulent or villosulous to strigillose.

Inflorescences

1(or 2)-flowered.

3–9(–11)-flowered.

Peduncles

in distal axils, ascending, 3–25 mm, longer than leaves;

bract unifoliolate, distal.

ascending or spreading, 10–80 mm, longer than leaves;

bract 1(–3)-foliolate, distal.

Flowers

(4–)5–9 mm;

calyx (2.5–)3–6.5 mm, tube pilose, lobes linear-lanceolate, accrescent;

corolla whitish or cream, turning pink or salmon, banner rose-striate, keel tip yellow, claws shorter than calyx tube, banner implicate-ascending to erect, wings ± equaling keel;

style abruptly angled upward 45°, glabrous.

12–25 mm;

calyx (4.5–)5.5–10 mm, tube villosulous, lobes subulate;

corolla greenish white, white or yellow, fading to rose or reddish, claws shorter than calyx tube, banner ascending 45–90°, wings longer than banner and keel;

style nearly straight or basally curved, glabrous.

Legumes

persistent, exserted, spreading or pendent, brown, straight or ± curved, compressed, slightly constricted, not septate, linear-oblong to narrowly oblong, (15–)20–30(–40) × (1.5–)2–2.5 mm, thinly leathery, apex abruptly downward angled and curved, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, thickened, glabrous.

persistent, exserted, brown, linear-oblong, straight, turgid, sometimes slightly constricted, incompletely septate, 25–42(–70) × 2–3 mm, leathery, apex short hook-beaked, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, thickened, glabrate.

Seeds

(3–)5–8, olive to light brown, often black-mottled, oblong, smooth.

5–9, olive to reddish brown, mottled, broadly ovoid, smooth.

Acmispon americanus

Acmispon grandiflorus

Distribution
North America; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
nw Mexico; California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Herbs usually conspicuously pilose, sometimes glabrate; leaflet blades: length 3–3.5 times width.
var. americanus
1. Herbs glabrate; leaflet blades: length 4–5 times width.
var. helleri
1. Herbs densely puberulent or villosulous, usually grayish; ovules 22–30.
var. grandiflorus
1. Herbs strigillose or puberulent, green; ovules ca. 45.
var. macranthus
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Acmispon Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Acmispon
Sibling taxa
A. argophyllus, A. argyraeus, A. brachycarpus, A. cytisoides, A. decumbens, A. dendroideus, A. denticulatus, A. glaber, A. grandiflorus, A. haydonii, A. intricatus, A. junceus, A. maritimus, A. mearnsii, A. micranthus, A. neomexicanus, A. parviflorus, A. plebeius, A. procumbens, A. prostratus, A. rigidus, A. rubriflorus, A. strigosus, A. tomentosus, A. utahensis, A. wrangelianus, A. wrightii
A. americanus, A. argophyllus, A. argyraeus, A. brachycarpus, A. cytisoides, A. decumbens, A. dendroideus, A. denticulatus, A. glaber, A. haydonii, A. intricatus, A. junceus, A. maritimus, A. mearnsii, A. micranthus, A. neomexicanus, A. parviflorus, A. plebeius, A. procumbens, A. prostratus, A. rigidus, A. rubriflorus, A. strigosus, A. tomentosus, A. utahensis, A. wrangelianus, A. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
A. americanus var. americanus, A. americanus var. helleri
A. grandiflorus var. grandiflorus, A. grandiflorus var. macranthus
Synonyms Trigonella americana, Hosackia americana Hosackia grandiflora, Anisolotus grandiflorus, Lotus grandiflorus, Ottleya grandiflora
Name authority (Nuttall) Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 40: 45. (1913) (Bentham) Brouillet: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 390. (2008)
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