Acmispon strigosus |
Acmispon prostratus |
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strigose lotus |
Nuttall's acmispon, Nuttall's deervetch or lotus |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, usually mat-forming, sometimes cespitose (ascending and bushy), green to grayish, 0.3–5 dm, not or ± fleshy, strigillose, hirsute, canescent-tomentose, or scantily pubescent; taprooted. | Herbs, usually annual, sometimes ± perennial, cespitose, prostrate, greenish gray (young growth cinereous), 1–10 dm, not fleshy, strigose to glabrate; taprooted. | ||||||||
Stems | 1–20+, procumbent or decumbent to ascending, branched basally, herbaceous, slender, leafy. |
1–10+, procumbent or diffuse, branched basally, herbaceous, slender, remotely leafy. |
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Leaves | irregularly pinnate; stipules glandlike; subsessile; rachis 3–20 mm, flattened; leaflets 4–10, blades unequal, obovate to oblanceolate to linear-oblong or oblong, apex acute to obtuse or truncate, surfaces ± densely tomentose to glabrate. |
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. |
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Inflorescences | 1–3-flowered. |
3–8-flowered. |
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Peduncles | ascending or reflexed, upturned, 3–25 mm, shorter to longer than leaves (often elongated in fruit); bract absent or 1–3-foliolate, usually subtending umbel. |
ascending, slender, 8–30 mm, longer than leaves; bract absent or 1(–3)-foliolate, usually distal. |
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Flowers | (5–)6–10(–12) mm; calyx 3–5.5 mm, tube ± sparsely strigillose or glabrous, lobes subulate; corolla yellow (sometimes banner orangish abaxially), turning orange or reddish, claws ± equaling calyx tube, banner implicate-ascending or remaining closely implicate, wings longer than keel; style corneously thickened, marked by color, straight, puberulent or 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. |
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Legumes | persistent, exserted, erect or divergent, brown, straight to ± curved distally, compressed, not or slightly constricted, incompletely septate, linear-oblong, 10–35 × 2–3 mm, thinly leathery, apex initially short-beaked, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, thin, glabrous or ± strigose. |
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. |
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Seeds | 5–10, greenish to brown, ± mottled, ovoid to cuboid or globose, rugulose or granular. |
2, greenish brown, mottled, elongate-oblong, smooth. |
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Acmispon strigosus |
Acmispon prostratus |
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Phenology | Flowering (late winter–)spring(–summer). | |||||||||
Habitat | Sandy and gravelly areas near coast, beaches, dunes, coastal scrub, urban, weedy areas. | |||||||||
Elevation | 0–30 m. (0–100 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution | sw United States; n Mexico |
CA; Mexico (Baja California) |
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). D. Isely (1981) discussed the variation in Acmispon strigosus (as Lotus), distinguishing three varieties, two rather distinct but with intergrading phases, and one apparently more transitional, although distinct enough to be recognized. These varieties were only noted for California in recent treatments (for example, L. Brouillet 2012, following D. Isely 1993). Nonetheless, the typical (for example, excluding intergrading phases) varieties represent recognizable morphologies that also have geographic distinction. Specimens representing intergradation seem to occur throughout the range of overlap of these varieties, sometimes rendering determination difficult. (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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Acmispon | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Acmispon | ||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Hosackia strigosa, Anisolotus strigosus, Lotus strigosus, Ottleya strigosa | Hosackia prostrata, Lotus nuttallianus, Syrmatium prostratum | ||||||||
Name authority | (Nuttall) Brouillet: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 392. (2008) | (Torrey & A. Gray) Brouillet: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 392. (2008) | ||||||||
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