Flora of North America species comparison

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Hedysarum

hedysarum, sainfoin, sweetvetch
Habit Herbs, perennial, unarmed; with ligneous taproot.
Stems

decumbent to erect or ascending, solid, terete, pubescent, hairs basifixed;

from branching subterranean to superficial caudex.
Leaves

alternate, odd-pinnate;

stipules present, slightly adnate to petiole base, ± connate-sheathing, often suffused with purple, lanceolate, simple or bidentate, scarious;

petiolate, petiole much shorter than or subequal to blade;

leaflets 5–27, opposite or alternate, petiolulate, blade margins entire, surfaces mostly pubescent, sometimes glabrous adaxially.
Inflorescences

5–60-flowered, axillary, racemes, sometimes subcapitate;

bracts present, 1 per flower;

bracteoles usually 2.
Flowers

papilionaceous;

calyx campanulate, lobes 5;

corolla usually pink, pink-purple, lavender-pink, red-purple, lilac, lilac-purple, or yellow, rarely white, keel much exceeding wings, somewhat longer than banner, broadly truncate, apex prominent, oblique;

stamens 10, diadelphous;

anthers dorsifixed;

ovary enclosed in staminal sheath;

style glabrous.
Fruits

loments, stipitate, pendulous to spreading, compressed, straight, narrowly ellipsoid, indehiscent (breaking transversely), constricted into 1–8, 1-seeded segments, glabrous or pubescent, rarely with processes.
Seeds

1 per segment, brown, flattened, reniform-ovoid, glossy.
x

= 7.

Hedysarum
Distribution
from USDA
North America; Europe; Asia (Asia Minor)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 50 (4 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaflet blade veins obscure; loment margins moderately or not winged; calyx lobes subequal to markedly unequal in size; wing auricles distinct, blunt, shorter than claw.
H. boreale
1. Leaflet blade veins conspicuous; loment margins narrowly or conspicuously winged; calyx lobes equal or nearly so; wing auricles connate, linear, nearly equal or equal to claw.
→ 2
2. Flowers 10–19(–22) mm (when greater than 16 mm, then from north of 50th parallel), corollas usually lilac- to pink-purple, rarely white; loment segments 5.5–12 × 3.5–6 mm, margins narrowly winged; leaflet blades lanceolate to oblong, elliptic, or lanceolate-elliptic.
H. alpinum
2. Flowers (14–)16–25 mm, corollas usually yellow to pale yellow, or shades of pink or purple, rarely white; loment segments 7–14.5(–18) × 5.5–10.2(–11) mm, mar­gins conspicuously winged; leaflet blades lanceolate to ovate, elliptic, oblong, or lanceolate-oblong.
→ 3
3. Corollas yellow to pale yellow, 14–20 mm; loment segments 5.5–9 mm wide, glabrous.
H. sulphurescens
3. Corollas usually lavender-pink or lilac- to pink-purple, rarely white, 16–25 mm; loment segments 5.6–10.2(–11) mm wide, pubescent or glabrous.
H. occidentale
Source FNA vol. 11. Author: Stanley L. Welsh.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae
Subordinate taxa
H. alpinum, H. boreale, H. occidentale, H. sulphurescens
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 745. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 332. (1754)
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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