Galactia grisebachii
Galactia pinetorum
Grisebach's milkpea
pineland milkpea
climbing-twining, fili-form, herbaceous, sparsely and minutely strigose, hairs antrorse.
procumbent, not twining, herbaceous, minutely and sparsely strigulose, hairs usually retrorse, rarely antrorse.
3, blades linear-oblong to narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, (10–)15–40 × 2–4(–6) mm, herbaceous, veins not raised, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces weakly glaucous and sparsely minutely strigose abaxially, sparsely strigose or glabrous 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 solitary and axillary or 2–5(–10) in reduced pseudoracemes;
axis 10–40(–130) 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 5–6 mm, strigose;
corolla pink to blue, purple, or lavender, 7–9 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, (20–)25–45 × 3–5 mm, sparsely strigose.
straight, 25–50 × 4 mm, densely strigose to strigulose, hairs minute.
(3–)8–10.
5–7.
Galactia grisebachii
Galactia pinetorum
Galactia grisebachii is characterized by its twining habit, uniformly linear to linear-oblong leaflets sparsely strigose or glabrous adaxially, weakly glaucous and sparsely minutely strigose abaxially, and flowers solitary and axillary or 2–5(–10) in reduced pseudoracemes. In the flora area, this species is known only from Lee, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. These plants have previously been identified by the misapplied name G. parvifolia A. Richard, a different species (G. L. Nesom 2015).
A. R. Franck (2017) observed that plants matching the lectotype of Galactia grisebachii (from Cuba) are restricted to the West Indies and regarded the Florida plants as G. austrofloridensis A. R. Franck, distinguishing them by: long inflorescences often exserted beyond the leaves, 1–9 flowers (versus short inflorescences of G. grisebachii rarely exserted beyond the leaves, with 1–5 flowers); and conspicuously raised-reticulate venation adaxially (versus leaflets without raised-reticulate venation in G. grisebachii). The hypothesis by Franck may prove to be correct, but inflorescence axis length and number of flowers in the Florida plants are variable and overlap with the West Indian plants, and the putative distinction in venation remains to be clearly documented and affirmed.
(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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