Galactia smallii
Galactia grisebachii
Small's milkpea
Grisebach's milkpea
procumbent, distally twining, densely to sparsely hirsute-villous to hirsute, hairs loosely retrorsely spreading or antrorsely spreading-ascending.
climbing-twining, fili-form, herbaceous, sparsely and minutely strigose, hairs antrorse.
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.
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 2–6 in reduced pseudoracemes on distal 1/8–1/4 of axis;
axis (5–)20–60(–90) mm.
flowers solitary and axillary or 2–5(–10) in reduced pseudoracemes;
axis 10–40(–130) mm.
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.
calyx 5–6 mm, strigose;
corolla pink to blue, purple, or lavender, 7–9 mm.
straight, 25–50 × 5 mm, densely strigose, sometimes white-glaucous.
straight, (20–)25–45 × 3–5 mm, sparsely strigose.
7–11.
(3–)8–10.
Galactia smallii
Galactia grisebachii
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.)
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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