Tall-bread scurf-pea

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Tall-bread scurf-pea

Tall-bread scurf-pea

Tall-bread scurf-pea leaves

Tall-bread scurf-pea inflorescences

Tall-bread scurf-pea

Tall-bread scurf-pea leaf

Tall-bread scurf-pea flowers

Tall-bread scurf-pea

Tall-bread scurf-pea leaf

Morphology

Stem

Usually prostrate to ascending, rarely erect, branched above, sparsely appressed-pubescent.

Leaves

Alternate, palmately compound, stipules ovate to lanceolate, .4 to .8 inch; petiole .4 to 2.4 inches; leaflets 3-5, elliptic to obovate, 1 to 2.4 inches long, .2 to 1 inch wide, base acute, tip rounded to acute, lower surface appressed-pubescent, upper surface glabrate, glandular-punctate.

Inflorescence

Racemes, continuous, dense, cylindric to somewhat conic, 1.6 to 3.6 inches long, .8 to 1.4 inch wide, axillary or terminal; peduncles to .24 to 6 inches; bracts ovate to lanceolate or elliptic, .2 to .6 inch. Pedicels .16 to .2 inch.

Flower

Papilionaceous; calyx campanulate, .3 to .5 inch, sparsely pubescent or glabrescent, lobes acuminate; corolla blue to purple, .5 to .7 inch; banner obovate; wings oblong to oblanceolate, longer than keel petals; keel oblong to oblanceolate, slightly curved upward distally, apex rounded; stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free; style glabrous or obscurely hairy at tip.

Fruit

Pod (legume), ovate to elliptic, .24 to .3 inch, somewhat flattened in cross section, enclosed in persistent calyx; seeds grayish brown, sometimes mottled, elliptic to nearly round, .16 to .2 inch.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies

Distribution

West 2/3 of Kansas

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.