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variableleaf bushbean

Habit Herbs, perennial; root turnip-shaped, small.
Stems

prostrate, solid, strigulose or hirsute.

Leaves

stipules spreading, widely deltate or ovate, 4.5–8 × 2–2.7 mm;

petiole 1.7–6 cm, strigose or hirsute;

rachis 5–9 mm;

stipels subulate, 1–5.5 mm;

leaflets papery, blades orbiculate, ovate to broadly ovate or obovate, base attenuate or cuneate, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces strigose abaxially, hirtellous adaxially;

lateral blades 2–4.3 × 1.6–2.9 cm, sometimes 2-lobed, terminal blades 2.3–4.7 × 1.6–2.8 cm.

Inflorescences

14–25 cm (cleistogamous inflorescence over soil, 1.5–2.2 mm, flowers 3.5 mm, corolla whitish), axes adpressed-pilose;

tufts of bracts at base of peduncle mostly caducous;

extrafloral nectaries inconspicuous at nodes;

bracts and bracteoles subulate or lanceolate.

Pedicels

0.7–1 mm.

Flowers

1 cm;

calyx campanulate, 3.5–4.5 mm, hirtellous, calyx lobes as long as tube or longer;

corolla salmon-orange;

banner orbiculate, 5.5–7.5 × 4.5–6.5 mm;

wings oblong-ovate, 5.1–10 × 3.3–6.6 mm;

keel 4–8 mm;

ovary nectary disc distally even;

ovules 6.

Legumes

pendent, oblong-falcate, 1.6–2.5 × 2.7–3 cm, valves not twisting at dehiscence.

Seeds

4 or 5, oblong, 2.9–3 × 2–2.2 mm.

Macroptilium gibbosifolium

Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Rocky summits, oak forests, savanna-grasslands.
Elevation 1300–2500 m. (4300–8200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico; Central America
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Discussion

Phaseolus micranthus M. Martens & Galeotti and P. parviflorus Schlechtendal are illegitimate names that pertain here.

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

Source FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Macroptilium
Sibling taxa
M. atropurpureum, M. lathyroides, M. supinum
Synonyms Phaseolus gibbosifolius, M. heterophyllum, M. heterophyllum var. rotundifolium, P. bilobatus, P. heterophyllus, P. heterophyllus var. rotundifolius, P. macropoides, P. macropus, P. rotundifolius, P. seleri
Name authority (Ortega) A. Delgado: Syst. Bot. 6: 295. (1981)
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