Flora of North America species comparison

laxly erect, decumbent, or prostrate, pubescent to subglabrous, hairs incurved.

usually sprawling to erect, sometimes prostrate or decumbent, usually not glaucous, pubescent or glabrous.

sessile or subsessile;

blade ovate, elliptic, or obovate, 7–50(–60) × 3–20(–26) mm, base usually rounded to acute, sometimes cuneate, apex rounded to acute, surfaces pubescent, hairs incurved.

alternate;

sessile, subsessile, or petiolate; usually not strongly dimorphic;

blade surfaces pubescent or glabrous.

terminal or leaf-opposed, 1–4(–5) × 1.8–3 cm;

rachis not thorn-tipped;

peduncle 0–1 cm;

bracts early deciduous, linear to lanceolate.

terminal or leaf-opposed, sometimes appearing axillary if poorly developed, racemes, sometimes reduced and appearing fasciculate or aggregated into pseudopanicles;

peduncle present or absent;

bracts deciduous to subpersistent or persistent.

(2.5–)3.5–8.5 mm, sparsely pubescent or glabrous.

present.

usually pink, rarely white, keel distally yellow (fading white), (2.5–)9–14.5 mm, cleistogamous and semi-cleistogamous flowers mostly 2.5–5 mm, intergrading with chasmogamous flowers;

sepals deciduous, elliptic, 4–6.5 mm, pubescent or glabrous;

wings obovate, (7.5–)8–12 × 2.5–6 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent;

keel (7–)8–11 mm, sac glabrous (sometimes proximally ciliate), beak oblong, (1.2–)1.6–3 × 0.7–1 mm (mostly absent in cleistogamous flowers), usually notched or contorted abaxially, rarely subentire, pubescent.

cream, yellowish green,yellow, white, pink, rose, or purple, cleistogamous usually absent, sometimes present (in R. californica and R. lindheimeri), (2.4–)3.5–14.5 mm;

sepals deciduous or persistent (when persistent, usually only upper; all persistent in R. rusbyi), sometimes appearing very slightly connate basally, pubescent or glabrous;

wings deciduous, 2.5–12.5 mm, glabrous or pubescent;

keel usually beaked with unlobed projection, beak sometimes reduced or obscure (rarely on all flowers unless cleistogamous, and then inflorescence usually proximal), keel glabrous or pubescent;

stamens usually 7 or 8, rarely 9 (in R. acanthoclada), in chasmogamous flowers, fewer in cleistogamous flowers, not grouped;

ovary 2-loculed.

capsules, dehiscent, margins winged or not, glabrous or pubescent.

ellipsoid to ovoid, 7.3–10.5 × 4.5–7 mm, in cleistogamous and semi-cleistogamous flowers 4.5–8 mm, base obtuse, rounded, or subtruncate, margins with narrow, entire or slightly erose wing, glabrous, margins sometimes ciliolate.

3.5–6 mm, densely pubescent;

aril 1.7–4 mm, less than 1/2 length of seed.

pubescent to subglabrous, arillate.

or semi-cleistogamous flowers often present terminally, on much reduced scale-leaved lateral branches from proximal (or distal) leaf axils, or terminally on leafy branches that are often leaf-opposed.

= 9.

= 18.