''Acmispon heermannii'' (formerly ''
Lotus
Lotus may refer to:
Plants
*Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly:
** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae
**Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
heermannii'') is a species of
legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...
(
Fabaceae) known by the common names Heermann's bird's-foot trefoil and Heermann's lotus. It is native to the coastal plains, canyons, and mountains of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
and
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
, where it is known from several types of oceanside and inland habitat. It is a mat-forming perennial herb spreading straight stems along the ground. It is lined with leaves made up of several hairy oval leaflets. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...
is a cluster of 3 to 8 flowers each up to about a centimeter long. The petals are yellow, often with dark lobes. The fruit is a curved, beaked
legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...
pod.
The species was accepted by the Jepson eFlora ,
but regarded as the variety ''glabriusculus'' of ''
Acmispon tomentosus
''Acmispon'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae (legumes), native to North America and the west coast of Chile in South America. It includes several species of American bird's-foot trefoils and deervetches formerly contained i ...
'' by
Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants ...
.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
heermannii
Flora of Baja California
Flora of California
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
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