Psoralidium lanceolatum (Pursh) Rydb.

  • Authority

    Grimes, J. E. 1990. A revision of the New World species of Psoraleeae (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 61: 1-114.

  • Family

    Fabaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Psoralidium lanceolatum (Pursh) Rydb.

  • Description

    Species Description - Glabrate to pubescent or sericeous and densely to sparingly light- to dark-brown-glandular perennial herbs to 0.5 m , green throughout, commonly rhizomatous, plants arising from the apex of much branched woody roots to 1.5(-2) cm thick, these covered with exfoliating epidermis; caudices and base of stems with coriaceous to scarious, dark brown or stramineous cataphylls 7-22 mm; stems smooth to lightly striate below, becoming more definitely ribbed above, solid, pithy or somewhat fistulose at base. Stipules 5-11 X (0.5-)1-4 mm , those below larger, usually falcate and reflexed, or rarely fused-free, above becoming smaller and lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, quickly to tardily deciduous. Leaves 3(-5)-foliolate, palmate to rarely pseudopalmate, rachis then 1-2 mm; petiole (5-)9-29 mm , round to canaliculate, pulvinate or not; petiolules (0.5-) 1-2.5 mm , glabrous to densely strigose; leaflets obovate, oblanceolate or linear, 17-33(-42) x 2-11(-16) mm at base of plant, at apex retuse to acuminate, commonly apiculate, attenuate at base, glabrate to sparingly pubescent on both surfaces, especially along midrib, or more densely pubescent to sericeous below, homomorphic or dimorphic in outline. Inflorescence with 3-22 nodes and (1-)2(-3-4) flowers per node; peduncle (0.7-)1-12 cm; rachis 0.5-14 cm, rarely with a bracteiform simple leaf at lowest node; internodes to 1.5 cm, either increasing in fruit or not; bracts quickly deciduous, trullate, rhombic or broadly lanceolate, 1-2 x 0.65-1.5 mm , glabrate to lightly pubescent and glandular; pedicels 1-2.5(-4) mm. Flowers (5-)6-7 mm; calyx 2-2.5 mm , glabrate to strigose-sericeous, glandular, usually more so on dorsal surface, the tube 1.5-2.0 mm, teeth triangular to ovate, 0.5-1 mm, usually with longer coarser hairs on margins, ventral teeth often more rounded on apex than dorsal one; petals yellowish to purple-blue, rarely white; banner broadly elliptic or ovate, (3-)4-6 X (3-)4-6mm, the broad, distinct to scarcely differentiated claw (0.75-)1-2(-2.5) mm, the blade without auricles or with slightly raised margins just below claw, if auriculate the auricles not internally callose; wings 3-5 x 1-2.5 mm, the claw 1.5-2.5 mm, the auricle 0.5-1 mm; keel petals 2-3 x 1-1.5 mm, the claw (1-) 1.5-3.5 mm, usually somewhat broader than that of wing, the blade always with a purple blotch at apex; androecium 4-5(-6) mm, free filaments filiform, anthers oblong in outline, 0.25 mm; pistil 3.5-5 mm at anthesis, ovary narrowly elliptic, cuneateattenuate at both ends, strigose to densely sericeous sericeous, usually more so at apex, lightly glandular, style arcuate to reflexed. Fruit deciduous above receptacle, round in outline, 4-6 x 4-6 mm, glabrate, pubescent to sericeous, moderately to more usually densely glandular, though glands sometimes obscured by sericeous pubescence, glands on glabrate fruits often raised on pimplelike structures, style usually deciduous with base reduced to a nubbin, rarely persistent as a small beak to 2 mm, if so, narrowly attached to fruit; seed round to very broadly elliptic in outline, 4-5 mm diam., compressed but not flattened, dark brown, smooth to minutely reticulate, shiny.

  • Discussion

    Holotypus, Lewis & Clark, PH ! isotypus (frag) NY !

    Psoralea elliptica Pursh, R. Amer. sept. 2: 741. 1814 "In upper Louisiana, Bradbury, in herb. Bradbury." Holotypus, PH!, isotypi BM! POM!

    Psoralea scabra Nutt. ex Torr. & A. Gray, R. N. Amer. 1: 300. 1838. "On the Walla Walla, Mr. John Townsend." Holotypus B M ! photo M O ! Psoralea lanceolata scabra (Nutt.) Piper, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 11: 364. 1906.

    Psoralea micrantha A. Gray, in Torr., Pacif Rail. Rep. 4: 77. 1857. "On sandy banks of the Canadian, 4 Sep. 1853." Holotypus, J. M. Bigelow, GH! isotypi GH! N Y (2)! Lotodes micranthum (A. Gray) Kuntze, Revis. gen. pi. 1: 194. 1891. Psoralidium micranthum (A. Gray) Rydb., N. Amer. R. 24: 13. 1919.

    Lotodes ellipticum (Pursh) Kuntze, ^ angustissimum Kuntze, Revis. gen. pi. 1: 193. 1891. [no collection cited] U. St. Nebraska." Holotypus N E B , not seen, equated with Psoralidium lanceolatum by Rydberg (1919), and a Kuntze collection {Kuntze 2925, NY!) annotated by him as /? angustissimum, is Psoralidium lanceolatum.

    Lotodes ellipticum (Pursh) Kuntze X latifolium Kuntze, Revis. gen. pi. 1: 193. 1891. '"'Marcus E. Jones Nr. 3825 [Empire City, Ormsby Co., Nev.]" Holotypus NY! isotypi M O ! NY! POM! US! Psoralea purshii Vail, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 21: 94. 1894. Psoralea lanceolata var. purshii (Vail) Piper in Piper & Beattie, R. Palouse reg. 106. 1901. Psoralidium purshii (Vail) Rydb., N. Amer. R. 24: 14. 1919.

    Psoralea stenophylla Rydb., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 40: 46. 1913. "Utah: proposed dam site, near Wilson Mesa, Grand Co., July 1, 1911, Rydberg & Garrett 8367" Holotypus NY! Psoralidium stenophyllum (Rydb.) Rydb., N. Amer. R. 24: 14. 1919. Psoralea lanceolata var. stenophylla (Rydb.) Toft & Welsh, Great Basin Naturalist 32: 81. 1972. Psoralidium lanceolatum var. stenophyllum (Rydb.) Welsh, Great Basin Naturahst 46: 257. 1986.

    Psoralea stenostachys Rydb., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 40: 46. 1913. "Utah, Toole [sic] County, Government WeU, June 7, 1900. M. E. Jones 6221" Holotypus N Y ! isotypi CAS (2)! D S (3)! M O ! N M C ! POM! US! Psoralidium stenostachys (Rydb.) Rydb., N. Amer. R. 24:14. 1919. Psoralea lanceolata var. stenostachys (Rydb.) Welsh, Great Basin Naturalist 38: 345. 1978. Psoralidium lanceolatum var. stenostachys (Rydb.) Welsh, Great Basin Naturahst 46: 257. 1986.

    An extremely variable species that has been divided into as many as five taxa on the basis of raceme length, pod vestiture, and leaflet shape. In the northwestern part of its range the pods tend to have long-villose vestiture that obscures the pod wall. Collections from the southern part of the range often have the glands elevated on large pimple-like protrusions. The northern populations also tend to have broad leaflets that, although becoming somewhat smaller distally, are not dimorphic in outline. In the central part of the range the leaflets are dimorphic, with the lower leaves broadly elliptic to oblanceolate, and the upper ones more linear. The southernmost populations tend to have more linear to narrowly elliptic, homomorphic leaflets. Some populations in the southern half, and isolated populations in the central portion of the range, tend to have very long inflorescences. These specimens tend to have dimorphic leaves. H o w ever, these generalizations are subject to many exceptions. Furthermore, no character state is truly discrete, but grades imperceptibly into the next. Apparently, leaflet shape is in part environmentally influenced. Plants from higher elevation in the south approach the northwestern populations in aspect.

    Most common on alluvial plains and sandy areas, rarely found in heavier soils in sagebrush habitat; approx. 200-1800 m. Widely distributed in western North America on the Great Plains from southern Saskatchewan and Alberta to the Texas Panhandle, and desert plains of northern New Mexico and Arizona; from Iowa (Sioux Co.), Kansas and Nebraska west through the central and southern Rocky Mountains and Great Basin to California (Lassen and Monocos.); on the Snake River Plains and Colombia Plateau; apparently absent from the Idaho Batholith and the Rocky Mountains of Montana. R. IV-VIII.

  • Distribution

    California United States of America North America| Texas United States of America North America| Alberta Canada North America| Saskatchewan Canada North America| United States of America North America| Nebraska United States of America North America| Kansas United States of America North America|