TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
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Annual to tree
Leaves generally compound, alternate, stipuled; leaflets generally entire
Inflorescence: generally raceme, spike, umbel or head; flowers sometime 12 in axils
Flowers generally bisexual, generally bilateral; hypanthium generally flat or cup-like; sepals generally 5, fused; petals generally 5, free, or the 2 lower ± fused; stamens 1many, often 10 with 9 filaments at least partly fused, 1 (uppermost) free; pistil 1, ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, ovules 1many, style, stigma 1
Fruit: legume, sometimes including a stalk-like base above receptacle, dehiscent, or indehiscent and breaking into 1-seeded segments, or indehiscent, 1-seeded, and achene-like
Seeds 1several, often ± reniform, generally hard, smooth
Genera in family: ± 650 genera, 18,000 species: worldwide; with grasses, requisite in agriculture and most natural ecosystems. Many cultivated, most importantly Arachis , peanut; Glycine , soybean; Phaseolus , beans; Medicago ; Trifolium ; and many orns
Reference: [Polhill & Raven (eds) 1981 Advances in legume systematics; Allen & Allen 1981 Leguminosae]
Family description and key to genera by Duane Isely.
Annual or perennial herb from crown, glabrous to hairy; hairs sometimes forked at base, branches parallel with leaf surface, sometimes very unequal
Stem 0 or prostrate to erect
Leaves odd-1-pinnate; leaflets generally jointed to midrib; stipules membranous, sometimes fused around stem at stem base
Inflorescence: raceme, axillary, sometimes head- or umbel-like; flowers 2many
Flower bilateral; calyx 5-lobed; banner outside wings in bud, keel blades with small protrusion at base locking into pit on adjacent wing; 9 filaments fused, 1 free; ovary (and fruit) generally sessile, style slender, stigma minute
Fruit generally 1- or ± 2-chambered, often mottled, generally becoming ± dry; placenta on upper suture
Seeds 2many, smooth, compressed, ± notched at attachment scar
Species in genus: > 2000 species: ± worldwide (380 in North America, 94 in CA including many rare taxa)
Etymology: (Greek: ankle-bone or dice, perhaps from rattling of seeds within fruit)
Reference: [Barneby 1964 Mem NY Bot Gard 20:11188; Isely 1986 Iowa State J Res 61:157289]
Very difficult; both flower and fruit needed for identification; many good species appear similar; some species complexes need study. Taxa near province boundaries may appear in > 1 key. Varieties keyed under species for simplicity; species with vars. so identified in key. Fr length includes beak and any stalk-like base unless fruit body specified.
Native |
Annual or perennial herb, low, open and widely branched, sparsely to densely silvery-strigose
Stem decumbent, 25 dm
Leaf 216 cm; leaflets 921, 525 mm, widely ± elliptic
Inflorescence: flowers generally 2040, early dense, then ± well separated, spreading or widely ascending
Flower: petals generally pink-purple, sometimes cream with purple veins and petal tips, banner 710.3 mm, recurved 90°, keel 6.28.8 mm
Fruit 1025 mm, 514 mm wide, moderately to very swollen (then ± bladdery), ± ovoid or half-ellipsoid, papery but not especially thin and translucent, thinly to densely strigose; beak ± erect, 1/51/3 X body, triangular; chamber 1
Ecology: Sandy or rocky places
Elevation: 1501650 m.
Bioregional distribution: w edge Sonoran Desert, adjacent foothills of San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges
Distribution outside California: Baja California
Flowering time: DecJun
Synonyms: A. vaseyi S. Watson