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Jack ass clover, spectacle fruit

Habit Annuals, 40–200 cm. Subshrubs or shrubs, 50–200 cm.
Stems

glabrous or glabrate (sometimes smooth when dry).

glabrous or glabrate.

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 0.1–2.1 cm;

leaflets 3 proximally, 1 distally, gray-green to green, blade ovate to obovate, 0.6–4 × 0.4–2 cm, 3–8(–12) times as long as wide, margins entire, apex emarginate to rounded.

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, ovate, 0.5–1.7 × 0.4–1.1 mm, less than 1.75 times as long as wide, margins entire, glabrous;

petals yellow, oblong, 2.5–6.3 × 1–2.5 mm;

stamens yellow, 4–10 mm;

anthers (1–)1.5–2.5 mm;

gynophore 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.

1–5.6 × 1 mm.

2n

= 40.

= 40.

Wislizenia refracta

Wislizenia palmeri

Phenology Flowering spring–fall. Flowering and fruiting year-round.
Habitat Dry sandy flats, desert scrub, roadsides Sandy washes, coastal dunes, saline flats, desert scrub
Elevation 500-2400 m (1600-7900 ft) 100-500 m (300-1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora)
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.)

Essentially a Mexican species, Wislizenia palmeri occurs in the flora area in Riverside and San Diego counties in California, and in Organ Pipe National Monument in southern Arizona.

(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. californica, W. refracta
Synonyms W. costellata, W. melilotoides, W. refracta var. melilotoides, W. scabrida W. divaricata, W. fruticosa, W. mamillata, W. refracta var. mamillata, W. refracta subsp. palmeri, W. refracta var. palmeri
Name authority Engelmann: in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, 99. (1848) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 622. (1873)
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