The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Stueve's lespedeza, tall bush-clover, tall lespedeza

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

Habit Herbs. Herbs.
Stems

ascending or erect, clustered, slender, 70–150 cm, simple or branched apically, villosulous or strigose.

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

Leaves

stipules subulate to narrowly triangular, 3–5 mm;

petiole 7–10 mm, longer than rachis;

leaflet blades elliptic to elliptic-oblong, base obtuse, apex obtuse to retuse, apiculate, surfaces appressed-pubescent or subappressed-pilose abaxially, lateral veins often conspicuous abaxially, sparsely appressed-pubescent adaxially;

laterals similar to terminal;

terminal blade 10–40 × 5–12 mm, length 1.5–2.5(–3) times width.

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

5–15-flowered, flowers clustered distally, shortly glomerate, flowers chasmogamous and cleistogamous.

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

shorter than or equal to subtending leaves.

longer than subtending leaves.

Pedicels

0.5–2 mm;

bracteoles shorter than calyx tube.

1–2 mm;

bracteoles longer than calyx tube.

Flowers

chasmogamous 5–6 mm;

calyx 3–4 mm, sericeous or villous, tube 1 mm;

lobes 4, lateral narrowly triangular, 2–2.5 mm, adaxial connate proximally, apices acuminate;

corolla purple;

wings 5.7–6.2 mm;

keel 5–5.3 mm.

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 exserted from calyx, calyx 2/5 loment length, ovate, 4–6 mm, cleistogamous exserted from calyx, ovate, 4–5 mm, sericeous or villous;

stipe 0.2 mm.

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 stuevei

Lespedeza hirta

Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Open, dry, often sterile, rocky woodlands, openings, glades, old fields, roadsides, river bottoms, moist pine savannas, on sandy soils.
Elevation 0–900 m. (0–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Lespedeza stuevei forms natural hybrids with L. angustifolia, L. frutescens, L. hirta, and L. virginica. Hybrids with L. virginica have been called L. × neglecta (Britton) Mackenzie & Bush and L. stuevei var. angustifolia Britton.

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

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. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lespedeza Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Lespedeza
Sibling taxa
L. angustifolia, L. bicolor, L. capitata, L. cuneata, L. cyrtobotrya, L. daurica, L. frutescens, L. hirta, L. leptostachya, L. procumbens, L. repens, L. texana, L. thunbergii, L. violacea, L. virginica
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 Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 107. (1818) — (as stüvei) (Linnaeus) Hornemann: Hort. Bot. Hafn. 2: 699. (1815)
Web links