Plants perennial, 15–25 cm. Leaves 3–11 cm; leaflets 15–21, blades lanceolate-elliptic to obovate, 8–18 mm, apex emar­ginate. Peduncles 3–6.5 cm. Racemes 7–17-flowered, short and compact in fruit; axis 1–4 cm in fruit. Flowers 17–20 mm; calyx 7–10.4 mm, tube 6–6.8 mm, lobes 3–3.5 mm; corolla pale violet. Legumes green, sometimes mottled, becoming stramineous, ovoid, greatly inflated, 19–27 × 11–16(–19) mm, semi­bilocular, stiffly papery, thinly translucent, glabrous. Seeds 30–35.

Phenology: Flowering Apr–early Jun.
Habitat: Sandy to loamy soils, with Ptelea-Rhus-Prosopis, and yucca, oak, mesquite com­munities.
Elevation: 800–1100 m.

Distribution

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N.Mex., Tex.

Discussion

Variety higginsii, from Chaves County in New Mexico, and Hudspeth, Hutchinson, and Potter counties in Texas, almost certainly is a derivative of var. diphysus, differing only in its pale flowers.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.