Galactia brachypoda
Galactia joselyniae
smooth creeping milkpea
joselyn's milkpea
procumbent, creeping, not rooting at nodes, sometimes weakly twining distally, minutely strigose, hairs retrorsely or antrorsely appressed;
some or most internodes, especially proximally, longer than largest leaflet of adjacent node.
procumbent, sometimes weakly twining distally, herbaceous or proximally lignescent, loosely strigose, hairs antrorse or retrorse.
3, blades elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate or broadly lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, sometimes linear-elliptic, (8–)15–45(–60) × (4–)10–25(–32) mm, ± leathery, veins slightly but distinctly raised on adaxial or both surfaces, apex obtuse to rounded or shallowly retuse, surfaces moderately to densely short-strigose with closely appressed hairs and lighter green but not glaucous abaxially, glabrous or sparsely short-strigose or minutely hirtellous and darker, slightly glossy or not adaxially.
3(rarely 5), blades usually broadly oblong-elliptic to suborbiculate, sometimes broadly oblong to broadly oblong-oblanceolate, (9–)11–29(–37) × 6–24(–34) mm, herbaceous, veins strongly raised on abaxial surface but not adaxially, apex rounded to truncate or retuse, surfaces light green to glaucous (beneath vestiture), densely hirsute-strigose to loosely strigose-sericeous, sometimes more densely so along abaxial veins.
flowers usually (3–)5–15(–25), rarely 1 or 2, in pseudoracemes on distal 3/4 of shorter axes or usually on distal 1/5–1/4 of longer axes, often fasciculate distally;
axis (5–)20–80(–150) mm.
flowers solitary and axillary or 2–8 in pseudoracemes, not fasciculate;
axis (10–)40–130(–150) mm.
calyx 5–7 mm, sparsely strigose to glabrate, lobes greenish yellow to tan on inner surface when dry;
corolla not persisting after anthesis, lavender or violet to purplish, bright pink, or pinkish, lighter when dry, 11–15 mm.
calyx 4–5 mm, loosely strigose, lobes greenish yellow to tan on inner surface when dry;
corolla not persisting after anthesis, pink to rose-pink, dull blue-purple when dry, 6–8 mm.
straight, (25–)30–60 × 4–5(–6) mm, densely strigose to strigose-sericeous, glabrescent.
straight, 25–40 × 4–6 mm, sparsely strigose, hairs filiform.
(3–)5–8(–12).
(4 or)5 or 6.
Galactia brachypoda
Galactia joselyniae
Galactia brachypoda is a coastal plain species that ranges from Maryland and Virginia to Alabama. The species is characterized by its essentially prostrate habit, mostly non-twining, short-strigose (antrorse or retrorse) stems (sometimes weakly twining distally), subcoriaceous leaflets with raised venation, and relatively large corollas. Plants of G. brachypoda with distally twining stems and relatively small leaves might be mistaken for G. regularis; the latter has climbing and consistently twining stems with looser and non-appressed vestiture, thinner leaves, and longer inflorescences with curved axes and smaller, less congested flowers.
W. H. Duncan (1979b) mapped three morpho-geographic entities of Galactia brachypoda, emphasizing stem vestiture; the widespread entity has appressed-retrorse hairs, while the other two have appressed-antrorse hairs. There appears to be no other difference that would consistently distinguish among these population systems and thus all are identified here as G. brachypoda. Analogous, alternate orientation of cauline vestiture occurs in G. joselyniae, G. microphylla, G. pinetorum, and G. smallii (G. L. Nesom 2015).
Many plants having antrorse hairs are encountered in Georgia, South Carolina, and southeastern North Carolina; these have narrower leaflets than elsewhere in the range.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Galactia joselyniae is similar to G. wrightii in its mostly trailing stems and densely hairy leaves but different in its cauline vestiture with hairs either antrorse or retrorse, smaller, broadly oblong to suborbiculate leaves, and smaller and fewer flowers. It is known from Texas populations in Brewster County (Dead Horse Mountains, near the Rio Grande within side drainages of Boquillas Canyon) and Jeff Davis County (Wild Rose Pass) and from one collection in central Coahuila about 300 km south of the Brewster County sites. Plants in Brewster County have loosely strigose stems with antrorse hairs; those in Jeff Davis County and in Coahuila have strigose stems with retrorse hairs.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
MD Biodiversity
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
