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FABACEAE

LEGUME FAMILY

Annual to tree
Leaves generally compound, alternate, stipuled; leaflets generally entire
Inflorescence: generally raceme, spike, umbel or head; flowers sometime 1–2 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 1–many, often 10 with 9 filaments at least partly fused, 1 (uppermost) free; pistil 1, ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, ovules 1–many, 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 1–several, 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.

PSORALIDIUM

SCURF-PEA

James W. Grimes

Perennial, unarmed, gland-dotted, glabrous to ± sparsely hairy; rhizomes or roots (or both) woody
Stem erect, < 7.5 dm, green or yellow toward base
Leaves palmately compound, cauline; stipules free; leaflets 3–5
Inflorescence: raceme, axillary, with 1 deciduous bract and 1–3 flowers per node
Flower pedicelled, 6–7 mm; calyx flaring back, tearing along 1 lateral sinus in fruit; corolla white, yellow, or purple; 9 filaments fused, 1 less so or free; ovary glabrous to hairy, ovule 1, style tip bent, stigma head-like
Fruit indehiscent, ± spheric
Seed elliptic to round in outline
Species in genus: 4 species: North America
Etymology: (Greek: diminutive of Psoralea )
Reference: [Grimes 1990 Mem New York Bot Gard 61:1–114]

Native

P. lanceolatum (Pursh) Rydb.


Leaf: petiole 9–21 mm; leaflet 17–33 mm, linear to oblanceolate
Flower 4–7 mm; calyx 2–2.5 mm; petals white to purple-blue
Fruit 4–6 mm, papillate-glandular to glandular, ± hairy
Seed 4–5 mm, smooth, shiny
Ecology: Alluvial plains, sand
Elevation: < 2500 m.
Bioregional distribution: Great Basin Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: to c Canada, c US
Flowering time: May–Jul
Synonyms: Psoralea l. Pursh subsp. scabra (Nutt.) Piper

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