The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Jack ass clover, spectacle fruit

Habit Annuals, 40–200 cm. Annuals, 40–240 cm.
Stems

glabrous or glabrate (sometimes smooth when dry).

puberulent or glabrous.

Leaves

petiole 0.2–3.1 cm;

leaflets 3, green, blade ovate or obovate, (0.4–)1–4.9 × 0.4–2 cm, 1.5–4(–5.5) times as long as wide, margins entire, apex acute to rounded.

petiole 0.1–3 cm;

leaflets 3, gray-green abaxially, yellowish green adaxially, blade obovate, 0.4–2(–3.5) × 0.4–2 cm, less than 2.8 times as long as wide, margins entire, apex rounded, surfaces puberulent.

Racemes

1–1.5 cm (2–3 cm in fruit).

1–1.5 cm (2–3 cm in fruit).

Flowers

sepals green, lanceolate, 0.4–1.7 × 0.2–0.7 mm, more than 1.75 times as long as wide, margins entire, glabrous;

petals yellow, oblong, 1.4–4.6 × 0.5–1.8 mm;

stamens yellow, 2–6 mm;

anthers 0.5–1.7 mm;

gynophore (reflexed in fruit), 2–12 mm in fruit, usually shorter than pedicel.

sepals green, lanceolate, 0.5–1.6 × 0.3–0.7 mm, more than 1.75 times as long as wide, margins entire, glabrous;

petals yellow, oblong, 2.5–5 × 0.6–1.9 mm;

stamens yellow, 2–9 mm;

anthers 1.3–2.5 mm;

gynophore ca. 5 mm in fruit, usually longer than pedicel.

Seeds

0.5 × 0.3 mm.

0.5 × 0.3 mm.

Schizocarps

1.2–3.3 × 1 mm.

1.4–3.4 × 1 mm.

2n

= 40.

= 40.

Wislizenia refracta

Wislizenia californica

Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering late Jul–Oct.
Habitat Dry sandy flats, desert scrub, roadsides Sandy washes, banks of irrigation ditches, roadsides, croplands
Elevation 500-2400 m (1600-7900 ft) 20-300 m (100-1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
Discussion

Wislizenia refracta is known from trans-Pecos Texas, and from the Mojave Desert (San Bernardino County and Little San Bernardino Mountains in Riverside County) in California.

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

Wislizenia californica is known only from the San Joaquin Valley.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 214. FNA vol. 7, p. 214.
Parent taxa Cleomaceae > Wislizenia Cleomaceae > Wislizenia
Sibling taxa
W. californica, W. palmeri
W. palmeri, W. refracta
Synonyms W. costellata, W. melilotoides, W. refracta var. melilotoides, W. scabrida W. refracta subsp. californica
Name authority Engelmann: in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, 99. (1848) Greene: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 19: 130. (1906)
Web links