Aeschynomene rosei C.V.Morton
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Authority
Rudd, Velva E. 1955. The American species of Aeschynomene. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 32: 1-172.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type locality: On stony hills near Topolobampa, Sinaloa, Mexico, Type collected by Edw. Palmer (No. 204 in 1897), cited below.
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Description
Description - Shrub, to about 1.5 m. high; stems appressed-pubescent when young, glabrate, gray-barked when older; stipules lanceolate, attenuate, 2-4 mm. long, 0.5-1 mm. wide at base, pubescent; leaves 7-12-foliolate; leaflets 8-15 mm. long, 3-6 mm. wide, oblong to subelliptic, obtuse, subglabrous; inflorescences axillary, fasciculate, few-flowered, the bracts and bracteoles ovate, acute, 1-2 mm. long, about 1 mm. wide, lightly pubescent; flowers 8-9 mm. long; calyx 5-6 mm. long, sparsely pubescent; standard 8-9 mm. long, the claw 2 mm. long, the blade cordate, 6-7 mm. in diameter; wings and keel about as long as the standard, the wing blades about 3 mm. wide, the keel blades about 1.5 mm. wide; stamens about 8 mm. long; fruit 3-articulate, subsessile, the stipe 1-2 mm. long, glabrous, the articles 7-8 mm. long, 5-6 mm. wide, the apical joint strigillose, the pubescence decreasing toward the subglabrous basal joint; mature seeds not seen.
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Discussion
This collection, the northernmost of the series, most resembles in general aspect the rather glabrous South American species, Ae. tumbezensis, Ae. egena, and Ae. interrupia. However, in more technical characters of the flowers, stipe length, etc., it appears to be closely related to the pubescent Ae. vigil from across the Gulf of California in Lower California. As indicated above, this taxon was first described as Ae. fruticosa Rose, but, because that name was a later homonym of Ae. fruticosa Sessé and Mociño, Morton proposed the specific name rosei.