Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

INDIAN RUSH-PEA

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Hoffmannseggia glauca (Ortega ) Eifert

Morton County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 2-16 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September

Also Called:

Pignut, hog potato.

Stems:

Erect or spreading, simple or branched, glabrous or pubescent, glands on stalks above.

Leaves:

Alternate, mostly basal, odd twice pinnately compound; segment pairs 2-6 plus 1; leaflet pairs 6-11 per segment; leaflets nearly sessile, elliptic or oblong, 1/10 to 2/5 inch long, about 1/10 inch wide, minutely pubescent or nearly smooth, lower surface without orange glands.

Inflorescences:

Raceme, 4 to 8 inches long, 5-15-flowered, pubescent, glandular, terminal.

Flowers:

Stalks 1/10 to 1/5 inch long, pubescent, glandular; calyx 5-lobed, pubescent, glandular; lobes 1/4 inch long; petals 5, 2/5 to 1/2 inch long, yellowish-orange, claws glandular; stamens 10, separate, shorter than petals; filaments red, pubescent, glandular.

Fruits:

Pods, flat, 1/10 to 1/6 inch long, lustrous; seeds 2-8, ovate.

Habitat:

Prairies, fields, roadsides, stream valleys, disturbed areas; open alkaline sites; rocky or sandy soils.

Distribution:

Southwest 1/4 of Kansas.

Forage Value:

The underground tubers are eaten by hogs.

Uses:

Native Americans roasted and ate the underground tubers.

Comments:

An aggressive noxious weed in Kansas and other states. Named for Johann Centurius von Hoffmannsegg, 1766-1849, Count of Hoffmannsegg, Germany.