James' rushpea

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James' rushpea

James' rushpea

James' rushpea

James' rushpea

Morphology

Stem

Ascending to erect, usually branched above, finely pilose with curly or antrorse hairs, with orange glands that dry black.

Leaves

Alternate; stipules persistent, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly triangular, .12 to .2 inch; petiole .4 to 1.2 inch; blade odd-twice-pinnately compound, pinnae 5-7; leaflets 5-10 pairs per pinna, ovate or oblong, .12 to .28 inch long, .06 to .14 inch wide, base acute, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse or acute, surfaces finely pilose with antrorse hairs or glabrous adaxially, with orange glands abaxially, these drying black.

Inflorescence

Racemes, terminal and axillary, 3-15-flowered, 2 to 4 inches. Peduncles .4 to 2 inches.

Flower

Bilaterally symmetric; pedicels .08 to .2 inch; sepals 5, united basally, lobes lanceolate, .28 to .35 inch, lower lobe larger than others and cupping stamens; petals 5, yellow, usually with red spots at base, unequal in size and shape, .16 to .3 inch long, .08 to .3 inch wide; stamens 10, fertile, unequal in length; filaments yellow or red, pubescent.

Fruit

Legumes, slightly curved, .7 to 1.2 inch long, .28 to .4 inch wide, flattened in cross section, sparsely to densely covered with branched hairs, with orange glands that dry black; stipe absent; seeds 1-3, olive-green or brown, obovate, ca. .25 inch, flattened, smooth.

Ecology

Habitat

Gravelly to sandy shortgrass prairies, sand dunes, and sandy flood plains.

Distribution

West half of Kansas

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.