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hairy bush-clover, hairy bush-clover or lespedeza, hairy lespedeza

Habit Herbs.
Stems

erect or ascending, 80–200 cm, branched distally, short appressed-pubescent, pilose, or villous.

Leaves

stipules subulate to narrowly triangular, 3–6 mm;

petiole 10–15(–20) mm, longer than rachis;

leaflet blades ovate-elliptic, obovate, or rounded, apex obtuse or retuse, minutely apiculate, surfaces green, cinereous, or silvery abaxially, sparsely to densely sericeous abaxially, glabrous, sericeous, pilose, or silvery with fine, dense, appressed-silky hairs adaxially;

terminal blade 10–40(–50) × (7–)10–30 mm, length 1.3–1.8 times width.

Racemes

10–40-flowered, axillary from distal leaves or clustered in compound inflorescences, flowers compact to lax, axis and pedicels visible, flowers chasmogamous and cleistogamous.

Peduncles

longer than subtending leaves.

Pedicels

1–2 mm;

bracteoles longer than calyx tube.

Flowers

chasmogamous 7–10 mm;

calyx 7–10 mm, pubescent, tube 1–2 mm;

lobes 5, lateral narrowly triangular, 7–8 mm, apices spinelike;

corolla cream-white or creamy with pink or purple at throat;

wings 6–7 mm;

keel 5–6 mm.

Loments

chasmogamous slightly included in calyx, ovate-oblong, 6–8 × 4–5 mm, cleistogamous slightly included in calyx, oblong, 6 × 4 mm;

stipe subsessile.

Lespedeza hirta

Distribution
from USDA
North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Lespedeza hirta forms natural hybrids with L. angustifolia, L. capitata, L. frutescens, L. procumbens, L. repens, L. stuevei, L. violacea, and L. virginica. Hybrids with L. violacea have been called L. × nuttallii Darlington, and offspring from Indiana plants of L. × nuttallii show morphologies that range from one parental species to the other. Other purple-petaled species may hybridize with L. hirta to produce offspring similar to the morphology of L. × nuttallii (D. Isely 1998).

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

Key
1. Leaflet adaxial surface glabrous, strigose, or pilose; stems villous or pilose.
subsp. hirta
1. Leaflet adaxial surface silvery with fine, dense, appressed-silky hairs; stems appressed-pubescent or densely short-pilose.
subsp. curtissii
Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lespedeza
Sibling taxa
L. angustifolia, L. bicolor, L. capitata, L. cuneata, L. cyrtobotrya, L. daurica, L. frutescens, L. leptostachya, L. procumbens, L. repens, L. stuevei, L. texana, L. thunbergii, L. violacea, L. virginica
Subordinate taxa
L. hirta subsp. curtissii, L. hirta subsp. hirta
Synonyms Hedysarum hirtum
Name authority (Linnaeus) Hornemann: Hort. Bot. Hafn. 2: 699. (1815)
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