Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Tall-bread scurf-pea

TALL-BREAD SCURF-PEA

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Pediomelum cuspidatum (Pursh ) Rydb.

[=Psoralea cuspidata Pursh]

Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 10-36 inches

Family: Fabaceae - Bean Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Stems:

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.

Inflorescences:

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.

Flowers:

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.

Fruits:

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.

Habitat:

Rocky mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies

Distribution:

West 2/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Pediomelum, plain and apple, alluding to the tuberous rootstock of some species and cuspidatum, pointed, alluding to calyx lobes.

Tall-bread scurf-pea inflorescences