Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

LEMON SCURF-PEA

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Ladeania lanceolata (Pursh ) A. N. Egan & Reveal

[=Psoralea lanceolata Pursh]

Sandsage Bison Range, Finney County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-32 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Stems:

Ascending to erect, much-branched from base, sparsely strigose, moderately to densely glandular-punctate, especially distally.

Leaves:

Alternate, palmately compound; stipules lanceolate to linear, .12 to .4 inch; petiole .4 to .8 inch; leaflets 3, leaflets oblanceolate to narrowly oblong or linear, .6 to 1.8 inch long, .02 to .3 inch, base tapered, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes mucronate, surfaces sparsely strigose or glabrate, densely glandular-pubescent.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, axillary, dense to somewhat loose, .4 to 1.2 inch long, .4 to .6 inch wide; peduncles .8 to 2 inches; bracts early deciduous and usually absent.

Flowers:

Papilionaceous; pedicels less than .12 inch; calyx .08 to .1 inch; corolla white, usually wings and keel blue or purple distally, .2 to .28 inch; banner round, wings oblong to oblanceolate, longer than keel petals; keel oblong to oblanceolate, slightly curved upward distally, apex rounded; stamens 10, diadelphous; style glabrous.

Fruits:

Legumes, round, .16 to .24 inch, not flattened in cross section, longer than persistent calyx, glabrous, smooth but densely glandular-punctate; stipe absent; seed 1, tan to reddish brown, round, .16 to .2 inch, not flattened, smooth.

Habitat:

Sand and sandsage prairies, sand dunes, sandy mixed-sandy flood plains

Distribution:

Principally west half of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Native Americans rubbed the oily leaves on skin for dryness, chewed fresh leaves for sore throats and roots for hoarseness, and took a cold infusion of the plant to treat stomachaches.

Comments:

Ladeania, for LaDean Egan, mother of first author of name and lanceolate spear-like, alluding to the leaves.

Lemon scurf-pea inflorescence