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colchita, foothill deervetch, Hill lotus, short pod lotus

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

Habit Herbs, annual, mat-forming, cinereous or greenish, 0.5–4 dm, ± fleshy, villous to pubescent; taprooted. Herbs, perennial, cespitose, sometimes robust, grayish or green, 1–4(–15) dm, not fleshy, ± densely puberulent or strigillose; rhizomatous, woody based.
Stems

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

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

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-flowered.

3–9(–11)-flowered.

Peduncles

± sessile;

bract absent.

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

bract 1(–3)-foliolate, distal.

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.

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, 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.

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

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

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

2n

= 12.

Acmispon brachycarpus

Acmispon grandiflorus

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]
nw Mexico; California
[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.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
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. 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
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. grandiflorus var. grandiflorus, A. grandiflorus var. macranthus
Synonyms Hosackia brachycarpa, Anisolotus brachycarpus, A. trispermus, H. trisperma, Lotus humistratus, L. trispermus Hosackia grandiflora, Anisolotus grandiflorus, Lotus grandiflorus, Ottleya grandiflora
Name authority (Bentham) D. D. Sokoloff: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 37: 130. (2000) (Bentham) Brouillet: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 390. (2008)
Web links