Flora of North America species comparison

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Chamaecrista flexuosa

Chamaecrista serpens

Texas sensitive pea

slender sensitive pea
Habit Herbs, perennial, to 0.4 m. Stems usually erect, rarely procumbent, regularly branched.
Leaves

1–3.5(–4) cm;

petiole 2–4 mm;

extrafloral nectary 1(or 2), near mid petiole, rarely a second gland on rachis, sessile;

leaflets (4 or)5–10(–12) pairs, blades oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, narrowly obovate, or obliquely obovate, apex obtuse or deltate-acute, 3–12 × 1.5–0.4–6.3 mm.
Racemes

1(or 2)-flowered, axillary.
Pedicels

12–40(–45) mm;

bracteoles distal to mid pedicel.
Flowers

calyx yellowish, sometimes also partly reddish, sepal venation reticulate;

corolla yellow, petals to 5–19(–20) mm;

stamens 10;

anthers yellow, to 2.5–9.5 mm;

ovary loosely hairy.
Legumes

straight, linear-oblong, 14–40(–45) × 2.5–5 mm.
Seeds

2.3–3(–3.3) mm.
Variety

flexuosa tends to have larger leaves (4–14 cm) with more leaflet pairs (usually 25–65, rarely as few as 20).

Chamaecrista flexuosa

Chamaecrista serpens
Distribution
from USDA
Mexico; Central America; South America; Texas; West Indies
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Mexico; Central America; South America; s United States; West Indies
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 7 (2 in the flora).

Of the seven described varieties, var. wrightii is the only one native to the flora area. Variety serpens is introduced in Florida and is the only small-flowered variety, with the longest petal to 7(–8) mm. Among the large-flowered varieties, var. delicata (Britton & Rose) H. S. Irwin & Barneby occurs locally sympatric with var. wrightii in Mexico and is distinguished from the latter by its slightly smaller flowers (the longest petal to 12 mm and the longest anther to 5.5 mm). In contrast to vars. delicata and wrightii, in the remaining large-flowered varieties, the leaves of var. grandiflora (Bentham) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, var. isthmogenes H. S. Irwin & Barneby, var. mensarum (Molina) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, and var. oaxacana H. S. Irwin & Barneby usually have only three to seven leaflets pairs.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Petals to 5–7 mm; leaflets (4 or)5–7(or 8) pairs; Florida.
var. serpens
1. Petals to 13–19(–20) mm; leaflets 7–9(–12) pairs; Arizona, New Mexico.
var. wrightii
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae (excluding Mimosoid clade) > Chamaecrista Fabaceae > subfam. Caesalpinioideae (excluding Mimosoid clade) > Chamaecrista
Sibling taxa
C. absus, C. calycioides, C. chamaecristoides, C. deeringiana, C. fasciculata, C. greggii, C. lineata, C. nictitans, C. pilosa, C. rotundifolia, C. serpens
C. absus, C. calycioides, C. chamaecristoides, C. deeringiana, C. fasciculata, C. flexuosa, C. greggii, C. lineata, C. nictitans, C. pilosa, C. rotundifolia
Subordinate taxa
C. flexuosa var. texana
C. serpens var. serpens, C. serpens var. wrightii
Synonyms Cassia flexuosa Cassia serpens
Name authority (Linnaeus) Greene: Pittonia 4: 27. (1899) (Linnaeus) Greene: Pittonia 4: 29. (1899)
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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