Galactia brachypoda
Galactia pinetorum
smooth creeping milkpea
pineland 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, not twining, herbaceous, minutely and sparsely strigulose, hairs usually retrorse, rarely antrorse.
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, blades linear-oblong or narrowly oblong to narrowly lanceolate, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, or linear-elliptic, 20–55 × 2–8(–11) mm, leathery, veins prominently raised on both surfaces, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrate to sparsely strigulose abaxially, sometimes glaucous, glabrous adaxially.
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(–10) in reduced pseudoracemes, usually on distal 1/4–1/2 of axis;
axis 30–150 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 5–9 mm, strigulose, lobes greenish yellow to tan on inner surface when dry;
corolla not persisting after anthesis, blue to purple or purplish or pink-purple, lighter when dry, 11–15 mm.
straight, (25–)30–60 × 4–5(–6) mm, densely strigose to strigose-sericeous, glabrescent.
straight, 25–50 × 4 mm, densely strigose to strigulose, hairs minute.
(3–)5–8(–12).
5–7.
Galactia brachypoda
Galactia pinetorum
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 pinetorum is distinctive in its prostrate (non-twining) stems usually with retrorse hairs, very narrow leaflets with raised venation, and relatively large flowers. Stems of Moldenke collections have antrorsely oriented hairs; this variation is analogous to that seen also in G. brachypoda, G. joselyniae, G. microphylla, and G. smallii. Galactia pinetorum is known only from Brevard, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. The other linear-leaflet species of southern Florida, G. grisebachii, has twining stems with consistently antrorse hairs, leaflets without prominently raised venation, and smaller flowers.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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