Flora of North America species comparison

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Rupertia

California tea, rupert's scurf-pea, rupertia, scurfpea
Habit Herbs, perennial, unarmed; from diffuse, woody, branched root system, sometimes stoloniferous.
Stems

erect, ± glandular, glabrate; unbranched or sparsely branched;

proximal nodes often with cataphylls.
Leaves

alternate, odd-pinnate;

stipules present, deciduous or persistent, reflexed, distinct;

petiolate;

leaflets 3, very rarely 4, petiolulate, blade margins entire, surfaces glabrous or pubescent.
Inflorescences

2 or 3 flowers per node (3–20 nodes), axillary, pseudoracemes;

bracts present, deciduous.
Pedicels

present.
Flowers

papilionaceous;

calyx tubular-campanulate (in bud), gibbous to campanulate (in fruit, concealing fruit), lobes 5, lobes equal to or less than tube;

corolla cream or yellow, sometimes with purple blotch on wing blades and keel petals;

banner bi-auriculate, wings auriculate, keel always shorter, apical margins connate;

stamens 10, monadelphous early with vexillary stamen becoming distinct;

anthers in 2 series, proximal ones dorsifixed, distal basifixed, introrse;

receptacle tumid, style reflexed.
Fruits

legumes, sessile, elliptic or compressed-obovate, indehiscent, sometimes secondarily dehiscent by transverse rupture, apiculate or with beak ventrally displaced at maturity, eglandular or sparsely glandular, pubescent.
Seeds

1, round to reniform, smooth.

Rupertia
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; nw Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 3 (3 in the flora).

Segregated by Grimes from Hoita in the sense of P. A. Rydberg (1919–1920) for the absence of a secondary internal wall in the fruit, Rupertia is distinguished from other genera of Psoraleeae by a combination of characters, including an accrescent calyx, cream to light yellow petals, deciduous bracts, and a tumid receptacle. Delimitation of Rupertia from Hoita is further validated by a molecular phylogenetic study of Psoraleeae (A. N. Egan and K. A. Crandall 2008).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stipules 13–15 mm, widely elliptic to obtriangular; floral bracts 9–13 mm.
R. hallii
1. Stipules 4–10 mm, linear-oblanceolate, linear-spatulate, triangular, or narrowly elliptic; floral bracts 3–7 mm.
→ 2
2. Calyx in flower 6–8 mm; corolla banner 10–13.5 mm; legumes 4–7 mm, apiculate.
R. physodes
2. Calyx in flower 9–10 mm; corolla banner 14–15 mm; legumes 9–13 mm, beaked (beak broadly attached).
R. rigida
Source FNA vol. 11. Author: Martin F. Wojciechowski.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae
Subordinate taxa
R. hallii, R. physodes, R. rigida
Name authority J. W. Grimes: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 61: 52, fig. 6. (1990)
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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