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big deervetch, broad leaf lotus

bog bird's-foot lotus, bog bird's-foot trefoil, bog deervetch, meadow bird's-foot-trefoil, meadow deervetch, meadow or bog bird's-foot trefoil, pinnate lotus

Habit Herbs 70–150 cm, villous or sparsely strigulose to glabrate; root-spreading. Herbs usually robust, 15–50 cm, glabrous; rhizomatous, rhizomes spongy-thickened, whitish, rooting at nodes.
Stems

(1–)5–20+, ascending to erect, fleshy, stout, hollow.

1–5, usually ascending, sometimes decumbent, unbranched or branched, ± fleshy or not.

Leaves

stipules triangular or ovate to lanceolate, (2–)5–8 mm, membranous becoming scarious, often becoming inconspicuous; short-petiolate to petiolate;

rachis often curved, 6–12 cm;

leaflets (7–)9–15(–19), petiolulate, blades widely ovate to widely elliptic or widely obovate, (10–)20–30 mm, apex obtuse to emarginate, surfaces sparsely strigillose to glabrate.

stipules ovate, 2–5 mm, scarious;

petiolate;

rachis straight, 2–7 cm;

leaflets 5–9(–11), petiolulate, blades usually elliptic to obovate, rarely oblanceolate, (7–)10–25 mm, apex emarginate or rounded to obtuse or acute, surfaces glabrous.

Peduncles

ascending, 3–8 cm, usually shorter than, rarely equaling, subtending leaf, elongating in fruit, glabrate or glabrous;

bract medial or absent, leaflets (1 or)3 or 5-foliolate.

ascending, (1–)5–10 cm, longer than subtending leaf, elongating in fruit, glabrous;

bract subtending umbel or absent, 1(–3)-foliolate.

Umbels

8–20-flowered.

4–10-flowered.

Flowers

asymmetric, 12–16(–18) mm;

calyx green marked with purplish or pinkish, or purplish to pinkish, 4.5–8 mm, glabrous, tube cylindric, 4–6 mm, lobes deltate, 0.5–2 mm, sparsely ciliolate or eciliate;

corolla greenish or whitish becoming marked with red or purple, wings ± equaling keel, claw ± longer than calyx tube, banner implicate-ascending to 45°, keel apex acute.

10–15 mm;

calyx reddish, 5.5–7.5 mm, glabrous, tube obconic-cylindric, 4–5 mm, lobes abaxial 3 subulate to lanceolate, adaxial 2 triangular, 1–2 mm, usually eciliate, sometimes sparsely ciliate;

corolla banner and keel yellow, wings white or cream, wings longer than keel, claw longer than calyx tube, banner reflexed to 180°, keel apex subacute.

Legumes

± ascending to inclined, reddish to brown, linear, turgid, (10–)35–70 × 3–5 mm, leathery, incompletely septate, glabrous.

± ascending to ± inclined, ± reddish to dark brown, linear-oblong, turgid, 30–50(–85) × 1.5–2.5 mm, thinly leathery, incompletely septate, glabrous.

Seeds

7–12, olive or reddish to dark brown, obovoid, 3–4 mm.

8–20, olive to reddish or dark brown, oblong, 1.5 mm.

2n

= 14.

= 14.

Hosackia crassifolia

Hosackia pinnata

Phenology Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Wet to moist, open areas, springy meadows, bogs, wetlands, springs, streambeds, stream banks, seepages, in water, ditches.
Elevation 30–2500 m. [100–8200 ft.]
Distribution
from USDA
w United States; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Lotus crassifolius (Bentham) Greene [not Persoon] is an illegitimate name that pertains to Hosackia crassifolia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Hosackia pinnata reaches its northern limit near Nanaimo, southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia (M. Donovan 2006). It ranges southward along the inner foothills of the coastal ranges (avoiding areas of high precipitation) and in the Cascade Range, to the Coast Ranges of California (to Santa Barbara County) and along the Sierra Nevada. Hosackia pinnata is sometimes disjunct inland to eastern Washington and northwestern Idaho and, rarely, in central Oregon.

Hosackia bicolor Douglas ex Bentham and Lotus bicolor Frye & Rigg are both superfluous, illegitimate names that pertain to H. pinnata.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Herbs glabrate or sparsely strigulose; ovules.
var. crassifolia
1. Herbs villous; ovules 14–21.
var. otayensis
Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Hosackia Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Hosackia
Sibling taxa
H. alamosana, H. gracilis, H. incana, H. oblongifolia, H. pinnata, H. rosea, H. stipularis, H. yollabolliensis
H. alamosana, H. crassifolia, H. gracilis, H. incana, H. oblongifolia, H. rosea, H. stipularis, H. yollabolliensis
Subordinate taxa
H. crassifolia var. crassifolia, H. crassifolia var. otayensis
Synonyms Lotus pinnatus
Name authority Bentham: Trans. Linn. Soc. London 17: 365. (1836) (Hooker) Abrams in L. Abrams and R. S. Ferris: Ill. Fl. Pacific States 2: 541. (1944)
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