Acmispon rigidus |
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broom lotus, desert lotus, hairy lotus |
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Habit | Subshrubs, bushy, green, (2–)3–9(–15) dm, not fleshy, sparsely strigose to glabrate; from woody caudices. |
Stems | 1–30+, ascending, branched (distal branches ± flexuous and herbaceous), stiff (± woody), remotely leafy. |
Leaves | irregularly pinnate or palmate; stipules evanescent, glandlike, ovoid-deltoid; short-petiolate or sessile; rachis 0–5 mm, not flattened; leaflets 3–5, blades obovate to oblanceolate, apex obtuse to emarginate, surfaces strigose. |
Inflorescences | 1–4(or 5)-flowered. |
Peduncles | ascending to erect, slender, often flexuous, 20–60(–130) mm, much longer than leaves; bract absent or unifoliolate, subtending umbel. |
Flowers | 12–20(–24) mm; calyx 6.5–10 mm, tube ± densely strigillose, lobes subulate, abaxial pair sometimes connate behind banner; corolla yellow, sometimes ± suffused with red or orange, banner often red-backed, claws ± equaling calyx tube, banner remaining implicate, ± ascending to 45°, wings longer than keel; style corneously thickened and laterally grooved proximally, straight, glabrous. |
Legumes | persistent, exserted, erect or divergent, yellow-brown to reddish, straight, turgid, not constricted, not septate, linear-oblong to oblong, 20–40(–45) × 3–5 mm, leathery, apex short-beaked, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, keeled, usually glabrate, rarely sparsely strigillose. |
Seeds | 18–30, light brown, ± mottled, subglobose, finely granulose or papillose. |
2n | = 14. |
Acmispon rigidus |
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Phenology | Flowering late winter–spring. |
Habitat | Washes, rocky hillsides, talus and cliff-ledges of desert canyons, shrubby grasslands, scrub, oak chaparral, pinyon woodlands, Joshua tree woodlands, roadsides, on granite, limestone, or lava. |
Elevation | 10–1400(–1600) m. (0–4600(–5200) ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora) |
Discussion | Acmispon rigidus occurs in the Californian Transverse Ranges to the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, into central Arizona, southern Nevada, and Washington County, Utah. It is reported to hybridize with A. plebeius, A. argyraeus (variety not specified), A. mearnsii var. mearnsii, A. neomexicanus (also reported by D. Isely 1981), A. utahensis, A. wrightii (also reported by Isely), and possibly with A. grandiflorus var. grandiflorus (as var. mutabilis Ottley) (A. M. Ottley 1944). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Acmispon |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Hosackia rigida, Anisolotus argensis, A. rigidus, Lotus argensis, L. rigidus, Ottleya rigida |
Name authority | (Bentham) Brouillet: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 392. (2008) |
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