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meadow birds-foot trefoil, meadow lotus, Mohave trefoil, riverbar bird's-foot-trefoil, riverbar lotus, riverbar trefoil, tooth lotus

desert deer-vetch, Hill lotus, short-flower bird's-foot trefoil, small-flower bird's-foot trefoil, small-flower lotus, small-flower trefoil

Habit Herbs, annual, cespitose, often glaucous, 0.3–4 dm, not fleshy, glabrous or hirsute; taprooted. Herbs, annual, cespitose, green, 0.3–4.8 dm, not fleshy, glabrous or sparsely strigillose; taprooted.
Stems

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

1–10, erect to procumbent, branched or unbranched, 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.

irregularly pinnate to palmate;

stipules glandlike;

subsessile to short-petiolate;

rachis 2–8 mm, sometimes flattened;

leaflets 3–5, blades obovate to oblong or elliptic, apex obtuse, surfaces strigose.

Inflorescences

1 or 2-flowered.

1-flowered.

Peduncles

± sessile;

bract absent.

ascending, filiform, (0 or)1–26(–55) mm, shorter to longer than leaves;

bract (1–)3-foliolate, distal.

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.

(2.5–)4–6 mm;

calyx 1–2.5 mm, tube sparsely strigillose, lobes subulate;

corolla pink or salmon, quickly fading, with yellowish wings and keel, claws longer than calyx tube, banner implicate, wings ± equaling to slightly longer than keel;

style curved, glabrous.

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 or spreading, brown or tawny, curved or straight, compressed, constricted, not septate, narrowly oblong, 15–27 × 2–2.5 mm, thinly leathery, apex short hook-beaked, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, thin, wavy, glabrous or sparsely strigillose.

Seeds

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

3–9, brown, not mottled, subglobose to shortly oblong, smooth.

2n

= 12.

= 14.

Acmispon denticulatus

Acmispon parviflorus

Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering spring(–early summer).
Habitat Grassy slopes, meadows, prairies, clearings, gravel bars, stream banks, vernal pools, pastures, grainfields, usually sandy soils, sometimes alkali, clay, or serpentine soils, roadsides. Coastal bluffs, clearings in oak-pine or fir woodlands, open grassy areas, burnt chaparral, cut-overs, riverbars, banks, thickets, open disturbed areas, roadsides.
Elevation 0–1900 m. (0–6200 ft.) 0–1400 m. (0–4600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; OR; UT; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 parviflorus occurs in California from the Peninsular Ranges, the South Coast, and the Channel Islands northward to the northwest, the Sacramento Valley, and the northern and central Sierra Nevada, through coastal western Oregon and Washington from the Cascade Range westward, into southwestern British Columbia.

(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. intricatus, A. junceus, A. maritimus, A. mearnsii, A. micranthus, A. neomexicanus, 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 Hosackia parviflora, Anisolotus parviflorus, H. microphylla, Lotus micranthus
Name authority (Drew) D. D. Sokoloff: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 37: 130. (2000) (Bentham) D. D. Sokoloff: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 37: 129. (2000)
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