Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Slim-leaf scurf-pea

SLIM-LEAF SCURF-PEA

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Pediomelum linearifolium (Torr. & A. Gray) J.W. Grimes

[=Psoralea linearifolia Torr. & A. Gray]

Clark County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1-4 feet

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August

Stems:

Erect, branched above, sparsely strigose or glabrate.

Leaves:

Alternate, palmately compound: stipules lanceolate to subulate, .12 to .35 inch; petiole .04 to .2 inch; leaflets usually 3-5, sometimes 1-2 on distal leaves, narrowly oblanceolate to linear, .8 to 2.4 inches long, .04 to .2 inch wide, base acute to cuneate, apex acute, surfaces strigose abaxially, glabrous adaxially.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, interrupted proximally but continuous distally with 3-8 whorls, mostly loose, .8 to 3.2 inches long, .4 to .6 inch wide; peduncles .8 to 3.2 inches; bracts ovate to lanceolate, .04 to .08.

Flowers:

Papilionaceous; pedicels .16 to .4 inch; calyx campanulate, .16 to .24 inch, lobes acute to somewhat rounded; corolla light blue or violet, .3 to .4 inch; banner obovate; wings oblong to oblanceolate, longer than keel petals; keel oblong to oblanceolate, slightly curved upward distally, apex rounded; stamens 10, diadelphous.

Fruits:

Legumes (called pods), .24 to .3 inch, enclosed in persistent calyx; seeds 1, dark brown, sometimes mottled, reniform, .2 inch.

Habitat:

Rocky mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies, rock outcrops

Distribution:

West third of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Pediomelum, plain and apple, alluding to the tuberous rootstock of some species and linearifolium, linear and leaf.

Slim-leaf scurf-pea inflorescence