''Ladeania juncea'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, commonly known as rush lemonweed, or rush scurfpea. It is native to southwestern North America where it is only known from Arizona and Utah. It grows on sand dunes, among shrubs on semi-stabilized sands, on mudflats encrusted with salt, and on bare rocky slopes.

Taxonomy

''Ladeania juncea'' was scientifically described by the botanist

Alice Eastwood __NOTOC__ Alice Eastwood (January 19, 1859 – October 30, 1953) was a Canadian American botanist. She is credited with building the botanical collection at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. She published over 310 scient ...

in 1896. At that time she named it ''Psoralea juncea''. In 1919

Per Axel Rydberg Per Axel Rydberg (July 6, 1860 – July 25, 1931) was a Swedish-born, American botanist who was the first curator of the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. Biography Per Axel Rydberg was born in Odh, Västergötland, Sweden and emigrated to ...

reclassified it with the name ''Psoralidium junceum''. It was given its present name by James L. Reveal and Ashley Noel Egan in 2009. The name ''Ladeania juncea'' is listed as accepted by

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, and World Plants. It continues to be listed as ''Psoralidium lanceolatum'' by the USDA

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PLANTS database.

Distribution and habitat

''Ladeania juncea'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the southwestern United States where it is restricted to the southern part of

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and San Juan counties in Utah and the northern part of

Coconino County Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...

in Arizona. A separate population is found in eastern

Garfield County, Utah Garfield County is a county in south central Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 5,083, making it the fifth-least populous county in Utah; with about one inhabitant per square mile, it is also the least ...

. The plant is locally abundant in the vicinity of the

Paria River The Paria River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in southern Utah and northern Arizona in the United States. It drains a rugged and arid region northwest of the Colorado, flowing through roadless slot canyons along par ...

, the San Juan River and the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

but scarce elsewhere. It tends to dominate the plant communities where its specific habitat requirements are met. Its altitudinal range is between . Its conservation status is classified as " vulnerable" in Utah and as " critically imperilled" in Arizona.

References

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