Flora of North America species comparison

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Acmispon denticulatus

Acmispon intricatus

meadow birds-foot trefoil, meadow lotus, Mohave trefoil, riverbar bird's-foot-trefoil, riverbar lotus, riverbar trefoil, tooth lotus
Habit Herbs, annual, cespitose, often glaucous, 0.3–4 dm, not fleshy, glabrous or hirsute; taprooted. Herbs, annual, rounded, straggly (like tumbleweed), green to grayish, 2–3 dm, not fleshy, glabrate; taprooted.
Stems

1(–5), decumbent to erect, apically or basally coarse-branched, herbaceous, leafy.

1–20+, ascending, branched basally, herbaceous, leafy.
Leaves

subpinnate, pinnate, or palmate;

stipules glandlike or absent; petiolate;

rachis 5–12 mm, flattened;

leaflets 2–4, often 1 or 2 on one side and 2 terminal, blades elliptic to obovate (lateral sometimes asymmetric), margins denticulate or entire, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces hirsute.

pinnate;

stipules glandlike;

subsessile;

rachis 3–8 mm, flattened;

leaflets 5–7, blades oblong, apex obtuse, surfaces tomentulose.
Inflorescences

1 or 2-flowered.

1-flowered.
Peduncles

± sessile;

bract absent.

ascending, filiform, 10–20 mm, longer than leaves;

bract absent.
Flowers

5–8 mm;

calyx 3–5 mm, tube hirsute or glabrous, lobes subulate, ± denticulate;

corolla cream-white to pale yellow, banner purple-tinged, keel tip yellowish, claws shorter to slightly longer than calyx tube, banner ascending, wings ± equaling keel, with deep, triangular auricle;

style curved, glabrous.

4–5 mm;

calyx 2.5–3 mm, tube pubescence not observed, lobes subulate, shorter than tube;

corolla yellow turning red, claws ± equaling calyx tube, banner cuneate to short-clawed, wings equal to keel;

style thickening and shape not observed, puberulent becoming glabrate.
Legumes

persistent, solitary or paired, exserted, erect or spreading, tawny, straight, compressed, slightly constricted, not septate, widely oblong, 8–20 × 3 mm, leathery, apex abruptly downward angled and curved, dehiscent, smooth, margins often undulate-verrucose, strigose or glabrous.

persistent, exserted, erect, brown, curved distally, compressed, oblong, leathery, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, strigillose.
Seeds

(2 or)3(or 4), gray, faintly mottled, asymmetrically ± angular-obovoid, flattened, smooth.

olive green to dark brown, ± mottled, oblong, sculpture not observed.
2n

= 12.

Acmispon denticulatus

Acmispon intricatus
Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering spring.
Habitat Grassy slopes, meadows, prairies, clearings, gravel bars, stream banks, vernal pools, pastures, grainfields, usually sandy soils, sometimes alkali, clay, or serpentine soils, roadsides. Desert scrub.
Elevation 0–1900 m. (0–6200 ft.) 600–800 m. (2000–2600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; OR; UT; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NV
Discussion

Acmispon denticulatus occurs in California from the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento Valley, and northern Sierra Nevada Foothills to the northwest, Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau, into adjacent southern Oregon (Siskiyou and Klamath regions), northward on both sides of the Cascade Range into southern British Columbia, with eastern outliers in southwestern Utah (Washington County), and in south-central Idaho (Lincoln County).

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

Acmispon intricatus is known only from the type locality in the Valley of Fire in Clark County; it has not been recollected. D. Isely (1981) acknowledged that A. intricatus could be a phenotypic variant of A. strigosus var. tomentellus, but he stated that they differ in growth habit.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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. brachycarpus, A. cytisoides, A. decumbens, A. dendroideus, 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. grandiflorus, A. haydonii, 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 denticulata, Anisolotus denticulatus, Lotus denticulatus Lotus intricatus, Ottleya intricata
Name authority (Drew) D. D. Sokoloff: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 37: 130. (2000) (Eastwood) Brouillet: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 390. (2008)
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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