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

Photo is of parent taxon
Habit Herbs.
Stems

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

appressed-pubescent or densely short-pilose.

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.

Leaflets

blade surfaces silvery with fine, dense, appressed-silky hairs adaxially.

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.

2n

= 20.

Lespedeza hirta

Lespedeza hirta subsp. curtissii

Phenology Flowering fall.
Habitat Pine flat­woods, savanna openings and margins, oak woods, palmetto scrub, old fields, mesic or dry sites.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; NC; SC; VA
[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.)

Subspecies curtissii is known from the Atlantic and Gulf Coast coastal plains (A. F. Clewell 1964b).

(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. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lespedeza Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lespedeza > Lespedeza hirta
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
L. hirta subsp. hirta
Subordinate taxa
L. hirta subsp. curtissii, L. hirta subsp. hirta
Synonyms Hedysarum hirtum L. hirta var. curtissii
Name authority (Linnaeus) Hornemann: Hort. Bot. Hafn. 2: 699. (1815) Clewell: Brittonia 16: 75. (1964)
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