Flora of North America species comparison

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Ornithopus

bird's-foot, serradela
Habit Herbs, annual, unarmed.
Stems

erect to procumbent or decumbent, terete, pubescent.
Leaves

alternate, odd-pinnate;

stipules present, distinct, dark-tipped, membranous;

petiolate;

leaflets 15–37, blade margins entire, surfaces pubescent.
Inflorescences

pedunculate, 2–8-flowered, axillary, umbellate heads;

bracts present or absent, pinnate or unifoliolate and leaflike;

bracteoles 1–8, 0.5 mm, dark-tipped, membranous.
Flowers

papilionaceous;

calyx ± actinomorphic, tubular or campanulate, lobes 5;

corolla white, pink, or yellow [purple], keel obtuse, inconspicuous;

stamens 10, diadelphous;

anthers basifixed;

styles glabrous;

stigmas terminal.
Fruits

loments, stipitate, laterally compressed [terete], linear or curved, constricted between seeds or not, laterally dehiscent into indehiscent segments, segments oblong or elliptic oblong, reticulate-veined, pubescent.
Seeds

3–9, compressed-orbicular to ellipsoid-orbicular, smooth;

hilum lateral.
x

= 7.

Ornithopus
Distribution
from USDA
Europe; w Asia; s Africa; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 6 (3 in the flora).

Ornithopus pinnatus (Miller) Druce has 5–15 leaflets, heads without leaflike bracts, yellow corollas, and terete fruits with densely reticulate-rugose segments. It was collected along a roadside in Santa Cruz County, California, where it was growing with O. sativus and other introduced species that are known to have persisted for ten years or more. The site has since been developed for housing; it is not known whether plants have survived in this or a neighboring area.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Corollas 3–5 mm, white or pink, sometimes with darker lines; loments 1.5–2 mm wide, segments 2–2.5 mm.
O. perpusillus
1. Corollas 5–9 mm, white, pink, or yellow; loments 2–3 mm wide, segments 2.8–4 mm.
→ 2
2. Corollas white or pink; bracteoles shorter than flowers.
O. sativus
2. Corollas yellow; bracteoles equaling or longer than flowers.
O. compressus
Source FNA vol. 11. Author: Peter W. Ball.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae
Subordinate taxa
O. compressus, O. perpusillus, O. sativus
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 743. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 331. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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