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 Leaves Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Stephen Hale @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Attribution-Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC) |  Fruit Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Annual or perennial
General Desc:
Small shrub with minutely hairy to smooth stems; green leaves are divided into 3 narrow leaflets that are smooth above with flat, fine hairs below. Clusters of dainty butterfly-like yellow flowers at times tinged with red grow on stalks up to 1 foot long.
Identification notes: Subshrub; erect-ascending from a taproot; leaves trifoliate, leaflets oblong, without hairs above, appressed hairs below; flowers yellow, short-stemmed have a banner, wings and keel and in many-flowered elongated clusters; fruit an inflated oblong pod.
Height:
To nearly 2 feet
Habitat Description: Sandy, gravelly or clayey soils on flats, along the margins of washes and roadsides.
Plant Communities:
Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: 4000 - 6000 feet
Color:
Yellow, may be tinged with red
Shape:
Irregular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
Y
Flowering Period:
Jun - Oct
Description:
Each yellow flower has 5 petals. A large petal at the top (banner), a pair of petals below the banner (wings) and between the wings are 2 fused petals (keel). The banner and keel may be streaked with red. The tip of the keel extends beyond the wings.
Leaf Color:
Bright green
Leaf Type:
Compound
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Stems are smooth or slightly hairy. Compound leaves have a distinctive shape made up of 3 leaflets (trifoliate). Leaflets are oblong, 1/8 to 3/4 inch wide and 2-1/2 inches long, smooth above with a slight whitish waxy coating and flat, fine hairs below.
Fruit Color: Green, brown with age
Fruit Type: Pod
Fruit Notes: Pods are round to oblong shaped, 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, plump and bladder-like with straight, stiff, sharp, flat hairs and a slender tip. When shaken, the dry brown seedpods make a rattling sound like that of a rattlesnake's tail.
Seed Notes: Seeds are yellow to reddish-brown, kidney-shaped, about 1/8 inch long and smooth. When fully dry, the seedpods will suddenly explode open with an audible pop and eject the seeds a fair distance from the plant in a process called "explosive dehiscence".
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