Subshrubs, often bushy, some­times mat-forming, robust, green, 5–20 dm, not fleshy, gla­brous or finely strigose; from woody caudices. Stems 1–30+, usually erect to spreading, rarely procumbent, branched basally, herbaceous, slender, striate, sometimes ± woody, remotely leafy, usually deciduous mid-season, foliage developing after rain. Leaves ± pinnate (distally 3-foliolate); stipules glandlike; subsessile to petiolate; rachis 2–8(–10) mm, not flattened; leaflets 3–6(or 7), blades elliptic to lanceolate, apex acute, surfaces strigillose to glabrate. Peduncles ascending, 0–2 mm, shorter than leaves; bract absent. Inflorescences (1 or)2–7-flowered, in axil of distal leaves, spaced or congested. Flowers 7–12 mm; calyx 2.5–5 mm, tube usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely strigillose, lobes short-subulate; corolla yellow, turning orange or red, claws slightly longer than calyx tube, banner implicate-ascending to 90°, wings shorter than or equaling keel; style curved, glabrous. Legumes persistent, much exserted, divergent or pendent, greenish to reddish brown, curved to ± straight, turgid, slightly constricted, not septate, linear-oblong, 10–15 × 1–2 mm, leathery, apex long-beaked, indehiscent, smooth, margins thickened, smooth, strigillose or glabrate. Seeds (1 or)2, olive to brown, not mottled, elongate-oblong, smooth.

Distribution

California, nw Mexico.

Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

D. Isely (1981) reported a potential hybrid between Acmispon glaber (variety not specified) and A. argophyllus (variety not specified). Lotus glaber (Vogel) Greene 1890 (not Miller 1768) is an illegitimate name that pertains here.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Acmispon glaber var. brevialatus, Acmispon glaber var. glaber

Key

1	Flowers 7–12 mm; keel ± equaling wings.	Acmispon glaber var. glaber
1	Flowers 8–9(–10) mm; keel usually longer than wings.	Acmispon glaber var. brevialatus