Acmispon wrightii

Herbs, perennial, cespitose, erect or sprawling, greenish or grayish, 2–4(–8) dm, not fleshy, usually strigose to hirsute, rarely canescent; from woody caudices. Stems 1–20+, procumbent to ascending, branched proximally, stiff, leafy, base without persistent leaves. Leaves palmate, often ± dimorphic (proximal with broader leaflets, distal with filiform ones), sometimes subtending axillary clusters of filiform leaflets; stipules ovate; proximal short-petiolate, medial and distal subsessile or sessile; rachis absent; leaflets 3–6, blades obovate (proximal) or oblanceolate to linear (distal), apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse, surfaces ± densely villous to strigose. Peduncles ascending to deflexed, 0–30 mm, usually longer, sometimes shorter, than leaves; bract absent or (when pedunculate) unifoliolate, distal. Inflorescences 1 or 2-flowered. Flowers 10–15(–18) mm; calyx 5–7.5 mm, tube villous to strigose, lobes subulate to setaceous; corolla yellow with back of banner red, turning reddish, claws shorter than calyx tube, banner implicate-ascending, wings longer than keel; style straight, glabrous. Legumes persistent, exserted, divergent or declined, reddish or grayish brown, straight, turgid, slightly constricted, incompletely septate, linear-oblong, (17–)20–35 × 1.5–3(–3.5) mm, leathery, apex short-beaked, dehiscent, smooth, margins smooth, thickened, sparsely strigose to glabrate. Seeds 4–7, greenish to dark reddish brown, ± mottled, oblong, smooth. 2n = 14.

Phenology: Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat: Canyon slopes, mesas, washes, ± dry hillsides, sandy-loam, sandy, or gravelly soils, sometimes saline, pine-oak-Douglas-fir, pine or aspen forests, oak-pinyon-Cercocarpus or pinyon-juniper woodlands, juniper-oak grasslands, desert grasslands or scrub, riparian woodlands, roadsides.
Elevation: (1500–)1700–3200 m.

Ariz., Colo., Nev., N.Mex., Utah.

Discussion

Acmispon wrightii is reported to hybridize with A. mearnsii var. mearnsii, A. rigidus, and A. utahensis (A. M. Ottley 1944; D. Isely 1981), as well as A. plebeius (Isely).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa