Galactia minor
Galactia grisebachii
Duncan's milkpea
Grisebach's milkpea
procumbent or trailing, not twining, densely short-strigose, hairs closely antrorse-appressed, hairs 0.1–0.3 mm;
internodes usually shorter, sometimes longer, than largest leaflet of adjacent node.
climbing-twining, fili-form, herbaceous, sparsely and minutely strigose, hairs antrorse.
3, blades elliptic, oblanceolate-elliptic, or oblong-elliptic, (7–)9–25(–30) × (4–)7–10(–18) mm, ± leathery, veins raised on both surfaces, apex rounded to slightly retuse, rarely acute, surfaces sparsely strigose abaxially and lighter colored but not glaucous, glabrous adaxially.
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.
flowers solitary and axillary or 2–4 in reduced pseudoracemes;
axis (5–)10–20(–35) mm.
flowers solitary and axillary or 2–5(–10) in reduced pseudoracemes;
axis 10–40(–130) mm.
calyx 7–10 mm, strigose, lobes greenish yellow to tan on inner surface when dry;
corolla not persisting after anthesis, pink, lighter when dry, 11–17 mm.
calyx 5–6 mm, strigose;
corolla pink to blue, purple, or lavender, 7–9 mm.
straight, 25–45 × 4–5 mm, strigose.
straight, (20–)25–45 × 3–5 mm, sparsely strigose.
3–8.
(3–)8–10.
Galactia minor
Galactia grisebachii
Galactia minor is known from the Florida panhandle and southern Mississippi and from scattered counties in the other named states.
Galactia minor is distinguished by procumbent, antrorsely strigulose stems, relatively small, congested leaves with glabrous adaxial surfaces and raised venation, few flowers on a short inflorescence axis, and relatively large corollas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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