Flora of North America species comparison

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Caragana frutex

Russian pea shrub
Habit Shrubs, 1–3 m, unarmed to strongly spiny, glabrate.
Stems

erect, profusely branched;

bark brown, glossy, striped.
Leaves

appearing palmate or subpinnate;

stipules 1.5–5 mm, sometimes soft-spinose;

petiole 0.2–2 cm, sometimes spine-tipped;

rachis absent;

leaflets 2–4, blades oblong-obovate to cuneate-obovate, 1–2.5 × 0.8–1.4 cm, base cuneate, apex obtuse to acute and apiculate, surfaces glaucous, glabrous.
Inflorescences

with 1–3 flowers per fascicle;

peduncle-pedicel 1–3 cm, glabrous.
Flowers

calyx tubular, 5–8 mm, teeth broadly triangular, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous, orifice ciliate;

corolla bright yellow, 1.8–2.5 cm.
Legumes

dark reddish brown, narrowly oblong, 2–4.5 × 0.3–0.4 cm.
Seeds

6, dark reddish brown, globose to 4-angled, 4–5 mm.
2n

= 32.

Caragana frutex
Phenology Flowering May; fruiting May–Oct.
Habitat Slopes above creeks.
Elevation 70–800 m. (200–2600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
ON; e Europe; w Asia; c Asia (Russia, Siberia) [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Caragana frutex is known to be cultivated in Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Some named cultivars or varieties of C. frutex are based on growth form, leaflet size, etc.; none are recognized here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Caragana
Sibling taxa
C. arborescens, C. aurantiaca
Synonyms Robinia frutex, C. frutescens, Robinia frutescens
Name authority (Linnaeus) K. Koch: Dendrologie 1: 48. (1869)
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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