Tephrosia spicata |
Tephrosia leiocarpa |
|
---|---|---|
spike hoary-pea |
smooth-pod hoary-pea |
|
Habit | Herbs. | |
Stems | erect to ascending or decumbent-ascending, 30–60 cm, strigose to hirsute or glabrate. |
|
Leaves | petiole (2–)5–15 mm; leaflets (7 or)9–13(–17), blades concolorous, oblanceolate to obovate, elliptic-obovate, or oblong-obovate, 8–28(–40) × 6–16 mm, length 1.5–3.5(–5) times width, apex rounded to truncate, abaxial surface moderately to densely strigose to strigose-hirsute, hairs relatively long and overlapping, venation greenish, adaxial glabrous or strigose-hirsute, venation raised. |
|
Racemes | (3–)5–15(–20)-flowered, evident (flowers well above level of leaves), 10–20(–40) cm; floral bracts persistent, lanceolate. |
|
Flowers | corolla yellowish white, becoming pink to red, drying purple, 13–18 mm; stamens diadelphous; style bearded. |
|
Legumes | 20–40 × 3.5–4.5 mm, hirsute-villous, glabrescent. |
|
2n | = 22. |
|
Tephrosia spicata |
Tephrosia leiocarpa |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | |
Habitat | Dry or wet, open pine or mixed woods, pine-palmetto scrub, pineland bogs, pine savannas, clearings, field margins, roadsides. | |
Elevation | 10–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |
Distribution |
AL; DE; FL; GA; KY; LA; MD; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA
|
n Mexico; Arizona |
Discussion | Tephrosia spicata is recognized by its numerous leaflets with raised adaxial venation and long, ebracteate peduncles with long racemes. Cracca flexuosa (Vail) A. Heller is a later homonym that pertains here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (1 in the flora). Variety costenya McVaugh occurs in Mexico. F. Shreve and I. L. Wiggins (1964) described the corollas as pink to deep red or purplish. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 11. | FNA vol. 11. |
Parent taxa | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Tephrosia | Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Tephrosia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galega spicata, Cracca spicata, T. spicata var. semitonsa | Cracca leiocarpa |
Name authority | (Walter) Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 296. (1838) | A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 36. (1853) |
Web links |