Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SILKY SOPHORA

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Sophora nuttalliana B.L. Turner

Smoky Valley Ranch, Logan County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-20 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June

Also Called:

White loco.

Stems:

Erect or ascending, single or much branched from base, usually branching above, silky-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, short-stalked, odd-pinnately compound, 1 to 3 inches long, 1/4 to 1 inch wide; leaflets 15-31, elliptic to obovate, 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, silky-hairy, often folded lengthwise; margins entire; tips pointed or blunt.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, 1.5 to 4 inches long, loosely- to densely-flowered, on stalks in leaf axils near ends of branches.

Flowers:

5-parted, up to 1/2 inch long; calyces swollen on 1 side, stiff-hairy, often purplish; corollas papilionaceous, white to cream; banner conspicuous, wider above middle; wings asymmetrical; stamens 10, separate.

Fruits:

Pods, 1 to 2.75 inches long, beaked, constricted between seeds; seeds 1-7, smooth, olive-green or brown.

Habitat:

Dry prairie hills, plains, stream valleys, and roadsides.

Distribution:

Principally west 1/2 of Kansas.

Toxicity:

The foliage and seeds are thought to be toxic to livestock.

Uses:

Native Americans chewed the sweet-tasting roots.

Comments:

Silky sophora often forms extensive colonies. It resembles milk-vetches (Astragalus ssp.) but differs in having 10 stamens that are separate and a keel that is beaked rather than rounded.

Silky sophora inflorescence