Flora of North America species comparison

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Acmispon brachycarpus

colchita, foothill deervetch, Hill lotus, short pod lotus
Habit Herbs, annual, mat-forming, cinereous or greenish, 0.5–4 dm, ± fleshy, villous to pubescent; taprooted.
Stems

1–20+, procumbent to low-ascending, branched, herbaceous, leafy.
Leaves

pinnate or palmate;

stipules glandlike, sometimes absent;

subsessile or sessile;

rachis 4–10 mm, flattened;

leaflets (3 or)4(or 5), usually 2 on one side and 2 terminal, blades elliptic to obovate(–oblanceolate), apex usually obtuse, sometimes acute, surfaces villous to pubescent.
Inflorescences

1-flowered.
Peduncles

± sessile;

bract absent.
Flowers

5–9 mm;

calyx 3–6 mm, accrescent, tube villous, lobes lanceolate;

corolla pale yellow, reddish-tipped, turning red, claws shorter than calyx tube, banner horizontal to ascending to 90°, wings ± equaling keel;

style curved, glabrous.
Legumes

persistent, exserted, erect, brown or tawny, straight, compressed, slightly constricted, not septate, oblong, 6–12(–14) × 3–4 mm, stiffly papery, apex obtuse, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, thin, villous.
Seeds

(2 or)3(–5), tan to dark brown or blackish, faintly mottled, lenticular-elliptic (asymmetric), smooth.
2n

= 12.

Acmispon brachycarpus
Phenology Flowering late winter–spring.
Habitat Rocky, open, dis­turbed areas, ridges, sand bars, desert flats or washes, stream beds and banks, sandy, gravelly, or clayey soils, serpen­tine, grasslands, oak-pine woodlands, chaparral, desert scrub, roadsides, agricultural fields.
Elevation 0–1900(–2000) m. (0–6200(–6600) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; Mexico (Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Acmispon brachycarpus occurs throughout California into southwestern Oregon (one old collection further north in the Willamette Valley), east through the Mojave Desert into Arizona and southwestern Nevada, and into southwestern New Mexico. Lotus brachycarpus Bentham & Hooker f. ex S. Watson (1878) is an invalid name that pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Acmispon
Sibling taxa
A. americanus, A. argophyllus, A. argyraeus, 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
Synonyms Hosackia brachycarpa, Anisolotus brachycarpus, A. trispermus, H. trisperma, Lotus humistratus, L. trispermus
Name authority (Bentham) D. D. Sokoloff: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 37: 130. (2000)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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