Flora of North America species comparison

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Galactia smallii

Small's milkpea
Habit Herbs from a thick-fusiform, woody taproot.
Stems

procumbent, distally twining, densely to sparsely hirsute-villous to hirsute, hairs loosely retrorsely spreading or antrorsely spreading-ascending.
Leaflets

3, blades broadly elliptic to broadly elliptic-oblong or suborbiculate, 8–25 × 6–20 mm, herbaceous, veins not raised, apex rounded or usually shallowly retuse, surfaces villous-hirsute, with ascending hairs or adaxially minutely hirsute.
Inflorescences

flowers solitary and axillary or 2–6 in reduced pseudoracemes on distal 1/8–1/4 of axis;

axis (5–)20–60(–90) mm.
Flowers

calyx 6–7 mm, strigose to hirsute, lobes greenish yellow to tan on inner surface when dry;

corolla not persisting after anthesis, lavender-pink to purple, lighter when dry, 10–15 mm.
Legumes

straight, 25–50 × 5 mm, densely strigose, sometimes white-glaucous.
Seeds

7–11.

Galactia smallii
Phenology Flowering Mar–Oct (or year-round).
Habitat Pine rockland-slash pine with a shrub canopy of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum), and willow Bustic (Sideroxylon salicifolium) over outcropping oolitic limestone.
Elevation 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Galactia smallii is endemic to rocky habitats in Miami-Dade County and is recognized by its prostrate habit with stems distally twining, stems and leaves variably spreading-hairy to strigose (antrorse or retrorse), and relatively large flowers, which often appear abundantly after fires. The lectotype (Small 8633, NY) has spreading cauline vestiture (though strongly glabrescent and not evident on portions of the stems). Other collections from the Miami-Dade County rocklands essentially identical otherwise in morphology have either spreading hairs or retrorse or antrorse hairs, and it appears that all of these plants should be considered as a single population system with variable vestiture. Other species apparently with variable orientation of vestiture are G. brachypoda, G. joselyniae, G. microphylla, and G. pinetorum.

Galactia smallii is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Galactia
Sibling taxa
G. brachypoda, G. canescens, G. elliottii, G. erecta, G. fasciculata, G. floridana, G. grisebachii, G. heterophylla, G. joselyniae, G. longifolia, G. marginalis, G. microphylla, G. minor, G. mollis, G. pinetorum, G. regularis, G. striata, G. texana, G. volubilis, G. wrightii
Synonyms G. prostrata
Name authority H. J. Rogers ex A. Herndon: Rhodora 83: 471. (1981)
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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