Lespedeza
Lespedeza texana
bush-clover, lespedeza
Texas bush-clover or lespedeza, Texas lespedeza
erect, ascending, procumbent, or trailing, often woody near base in herbs, usually branched, pubescent or glabrescent.
erect becoming trailing, 50–150 cm, branched much of length, appressed-pubescent and patent-pilose.
alternate, trifoliolate, often larger on medial stems than those subtending inflorescences;
stipules present, usually persistent (caducous in L. texana), ciliate, striate-veined, apex acuminate;
petiolate proximally, sessile or subsessile distally;
stipels absent;
leaflets 3, blade margins entire, ciliate, main lateral veins anastomosing before reaching margin, surfaces glabrous or pubescent;
lateral leaflets pulvinate, sessile or subsessile, blade often ± oblique;
terminal leaflet usually petiolulate (sometimes sessile in L. repens), usually larger than laterals.
stipules caducous, subulate, 3–8 mm;
petiole 10–16 mm, longer than rachis;
leaflet blades elliptic or obovate, apex obtuse, scarcely apiculate, surfaces abaxially grayish or pale green, appressed-puberulent or pilose, especially along midrib and margin abaxially, sparsely puberulent or glabrescent adaxially;
terminal blade (10–)15–25(–30) × 6–10 mm, length 1.7–2.2 times width.
3–8-flowered, flowers not clustered at apex, flowers chasmogamous and cleistogamous.
(1 or)2–40-flowered, axillary or appearing terminal due to reduction of subtending leaves, pseudoracemes, consisting of clusters of 2–4 flowers, rarely capitate, sometimes appearing paniclelike when subtending leaves reduced, cleistogamous flowers often in proximal fascicles, bracteolate;
bracts present, 1, subtending each flower cluster;
bracteoles 2, subtending each flower.
much longer than subtending leaves, patent-pilose.
3–5 mm, patent-pilose;
bracteoles shorter than calyx tube.
papilionaceous, chasmogamous or cleistogamous, chasmogamous pedicellate or subsessile, cleistogamous enclosed in calyx with reduced corolla;
calyx campanulate, lobes 4 or 5, often longer than tube, adaxial 2 distinct or proximally ± connate (and thus calyx 4-lobed), apex 2-toothed;
corolla pink to purple, lavender, magenta, reddish purple, or white to pale yellow;
banner broadly obovate to orbiculate, proximally clawed or cuneate, with inflexed auricles, darker purple marks (nectar guides) at throat of adaxial surface of lamina;
wings and keel long-clawed, lamina elliptic-oblong, proximally rounded;
stamens 10, diadelphous;
anthers dorsifixed (uniform);
disc present around base of ovary;
ovary minutely stipitate;
style adaxially incurved, slightly exserted from stamens;
stigma minute, terminal.
chasmogamous 5.5–8.5 mm;
calyx 2–4 mm, tube 1–1.5 mm;
lobes 4, lateral narrowly triangular, 1.2–1.5 mm, adaxial connate proximally;
corolla purple;
wings 5–6 mm;
keel 6–6.5 mm.
loments, usually subsessile, sometimes stipitate (sessile in L. procumbens), unilocular, strongly compressed laterally, indehiscent, papery, usually appressed-pubescent, sericeous, or villous;
loments from chasmogamous flowers usually subsessile, sometimes stipitate, usually elliptic-ovate or suborbicular to rounded, style straight;
loments from cleistogamous flowers sessile, usually crowded at base of peduncle, obovate to suborbicular, slightly smaller than chasmogamous, style curved and relatively short.
1, asymmetrical, ellipsoid or oblong, rim-arillate, chasmogamous seeds slightly longer or similar to cleistogamous.
body exserted from calyx, rounded, chasmogamous 5–7 mm, cleistogamous 4–6.5 mm;
stipe 1 mm.
= 9, 10, 11.
= 20.
Lespedeza
Lespedeza texana
Species 47 (16 in the flora).
Lespedeza species are distributed in Asia mainly from China to Japan, with a few extending to India to Afghanistan, and to New Guinea.
Lespedeza is monophyletic and most closely related to Campylotropis Bunge and Kummerowia (Han J. E. et al. 2010; T. Nemoto et al. 2010; Xu B. et al. 2012). The genus is divided into subg. Lespedeza, native to North America, and subg. Macrolespedeza (Maximowicz) H. Ohashi, confined to Asia (H. Ohashi and Nemoto 2014).
North American Lespedeza is divided into sect. Lespedeza and sect. Lespedezariae (as Lespedezaria) Torrey & A. Gray, which are supported by cpDNA analyses (T. Nemoto et al. 2010). The North America species were mostly well defined by A. F. Clewell (1966) and D. Isely (1998). Thirty putative hybrids are recognized.
Six Asiatic species are recorded as naturalized in North America (D. Isely 1998); Lespedeza virgata (Thunberg) de Candolle, reported from Florida and North Carolina (L. C. Anderson 1988; A. F. Clewell and W. H. Stickell 1990), is excluded because the identifications of vouchers are not confirmed.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Lespedeza texana is known only from Texas, especially the Edwards Plateau, except for a disjunct population in northern Mexico. Stems are procumbent or trailing, or sometimes erect or ascending near the base, to 15 cm, arching for about the next 10 cm, and trailing the rest of their lengths (A. F. Clewell 1966).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Shrubs or herbs; stems 50–300 cm, erect, ascending, or pendent; flowers chasmogamous, (8–)10–15(–16) mm; corollas usually pink-purple, magenta, or reddish purple with darker marks at throat, rarely white. | → 2 |
2. Racemes shorter than subtending leaves; lateral calyx lobes spine-tipped; keel petals shorter than wings; leaflet blade apices retuse to obtuse. | L. cyrtobotrya |
2. Racemes longer than subtending leaves; lateral calyx lobes not spine-tipped; keel petals longer than wings; leaflet blade apices usually obtuse to acute, sometimes retuse. | → 3 |
3. Shrubs; flowers 8–13 mm; lateral calyx lobes shorter than or equal to tube, apex obtuse or acute; wings slightly shorter than keel petals; loments broadly elliptic to suborbicular, stipe to 0.5 mm; leaves often of 2 sizes, those on medial stems much larger than distal ones subtending racemes. | L. bicolor |
3. Herbs or shrubs; flowers 12–16 mm; lateral calyx lobes longer than tube, apex acute to shortly acuminate; wings distinctly shorter than keel petals; loments elliptic, stipe 1–2 mm; leaves gradually smaller distally. | L. thunbergii |
1. Herbs; stems 10–200 cm, procumbent, trailing, sprawling, erect, or ascending; flowers cleistogamous and chasmogamous (cleistogamous rare in L. leptostachya), 5–10(–12) mm, corollas white to yellow, sometimes with purplish or bluish marks at throat, or pink to lavender or purple. | → 4 |
4. Corollas white to pale yellow or cream; calyx lobes usually 5 (except 4 and deeply lobed in L. cuneata, adaxial lobe pair proximally connate most or part of their length), nearly equaling or exceeding loments; bracteoles longer than calyx tube (except L. cuneata with shorter bracteoles); racemes 1–4-flowered or 10–40-flowered. | → 5 |
5. Terminal leaflet blades ovate-elliptic, obovate, or rounded, lengths 1.3–1.8 times widths. | L. hirta |
5. Terminal leaflet blades usually linear, narrowly elliptic-oblong, or narrowly obovate, rarely elliptic-oblong or narrowly obdeltate, lengths 2–8 times widths. | → 6 |
6. Petioles shorter than rachis; racemes shorter than to 1.5 times length of subtending leaves; calyces 8–12 mm. | L. capitata |
6. Petioles equaling or longer than rachis; racemes shorter than to 1–4 times length of subtending leaves; calyces 4–7 mm. | → 7 |
7. Leaflet adaxial surface appressed-pubescent; racemes loosely flowered; corollas 5–6 mm. | L. leptostachya |
7. Leaflet adaxial surface glabrous, appressed-puberulent, or glabrescent; racemes closely flowered; corollas 5.5–8 mm. | → 8 |
8. Leaflet abaxial surface appressed-pubescent; terminal blade narrowly elliptic, length 2–3 times width. | L. daurica |
8. Leaflet abaxial surface densely sericeous or strigose; terminal blade narrowly oblong, narrowly obovate, or narrowly obdeltate, length 3–8 times width. | → 9 |
9. Leaflet blades usually narrowly oblong, rarely elliptic-oblong; flowers 5.5–7 mm; bracteoles longer than calyx tube; loments included in calyx. | L. angustifolia |
9. Leaflet blades narrowly obovate or narrowly obdeltate; flowers 6.5–8 mm; bracteoles shorter than calyx tube; loments distinctly exserted from calyx. | L. cuneata |
4. Corollas usually pink to purple, pink-lavender, or violet, rarely whitish; calyx lobes 4 (adaxial lobe pair proximally connate), to 1/2 as long as loments; bracteoles shorter than calyx tube; racemes 2–15-flowered. | → 10 |
10. Stems erect or strongly ascending, initially simple or wandlike, generally branched distally; racemes shorter than or nearly equal to subtending leaves, distal flowers crowded or clustered. | → 11 |
11. Leaflet adaxial surface glabrous, sometimes appressed-puberulent on midrib. | L. violacea |
11. Leaflet adaxial surface densely to uniformly appressed-pubescent, sometimes glabrescent (but not glabrous). | → 12 |
12. Leaflet blades elliptic to elliptic-oblong, terminal blade length 1.5–2.5(–3) times width, base obtuse. | L. stuevei |
12. Leaflet blades narrowly elliptic-oblong to linear, terminal blade length 3–7 times width, base obtuse or cuneate. | L. virginica |
10. Stems procumbent to weakly ascending, trailing, or sprawling, often branched most of length; racemes longer than subtending leaves, flowers not clustered at stem apices. | → 13 |
13. Stems and peduncles sericeous or glabrescent, pedicels appressed-puberulent. | → 14 |
14. Keel petals usually longer than wings; leaflet blades apiculate; stems ascending or sprawling. | L. frutescens |
14. Keel petals nearly equal to wings; leaflet blades scarcely or minutely apiculate; stems procumbent or trailing. | L. repens |
13. Stems, peduncles, and pedicels with some pubescence patent-pilose. | → 15 |
15. Leaflet blades apiculate; pedicels of chasmogamous flowers 0.5–2 mm; chasmogamous loments sessile, elliptic, 4.5–5.5 mm. | L. procumbens |
15. Leaflet blades scarcely apiculate; pedicels of chasmogamous flowers 3–5 mm; chasmogamous loments stipitate (stipe 1 mm), rounded, 5–7 mm. | L. texana |
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
