Flora of North America species comparison

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Acmispon denticulatus

Acmispon prostratus

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

Nuttall's acmispon, Nuttall's deervetch or lotus
Habit Herbs, annual, cespitose, often glaucous, 0.3–4 dm, not fleshy, glabrous or hirsute; taprooted. Herbs, usually annual, sometimes ± perennial, cespitose, prostrate, greenish gray (young growth cinereous), 1–10 dm, not fleshy, strigose to glabrate; taprooted.
Stems

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

1–10+, procumbent or diffuse, branched basally, herbaceous, slender, remotely 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 or palmate;

stipules glandlike;

subsessile;

rachis 3–9 mm, flattened;

leaflets 4, 2 on one side and 2 terminal, blades obovate to oblanceolate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces appressed-hairy.
Inflorescences

1 or 2-flowered.

3–8-flowered.
Peduncles

± sessile;

bract absent.

ascending, slender, 8–30 mm, longer than leaves;

bract absent or 1(–3)-foliolate, usually 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.

5–7 mm;

calyx 2–3 mm, tube strigose, lobes triangular, shorter than tube;

corolla yellow, often red on banner and wing tips, reddening, claws longer than calyx tube, banner implicate-ascending to 45°, wings equaling or 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, strongly exserted, widely spreading or reflexed, greenish to tawny, arched, turgid, constricted, not septate, linear-oblong, 8–15 × 1 mm, leathery, apex tapering, shortly hook-beaked, indehiscent, smooth, margins often sinuate, glabrous.
Seeds

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

2, greenish brown, mottled, elongate-oblong, smooth.
2n

= 12.

Acmispon denticulatus

Acmispon prostratus
Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering (late winter–)spring(–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. Sandy and gravelly areas near coast, beaches, dunes, coastal scrub, urban, weedy areas.
Elevation 0–1900 m. (0–6200 ft.) 0–30 m. (0–100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; OR; UT; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[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 prostratus is known in the flora area only from the southern South Coast in San Diego County.

(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. parviflorus, A. plebeius, A. procumbens, A. rigidus, A. rubriflorus, A. strigosus, A. tomentosus, A. utahensis, A. wrangelianus, A. wrightii
Synonyms Hosackia denticulata, Anisolotus denticulatus, Lotus denticulatus Hosackia prostrata, Lotus nuttallianus, Syrmatium prostratum
Name authority (Drew) D. D. Sokoloff: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 37: 130. (2000) (Torrey & A. Gray) Brouillet: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 392. (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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