Plants annual, biennial, or perennial (short-lived), (4–)8–35(–40) cm. Leaves (3–)4–9(–12) cm; leaflets (9 or)11–19, blades ovate- or obovate-cuneate, broadly oblanceolate, or rhombic-elliptic, 5–19 mm, apex usually obtuse or emarginate, rarely subacute. Peduncles 2.5–8.5(–10) cm. Racemes loosely (8–)10–30-flowered, lax and open in fruit; axis (2.5–)4–11(–16) cm in fruit. Flowers 9.1–12(–12.4) mm; calyx (3.4–)3.8–6(–7.9) mm, tube (2.8–)3–4.5 mm, lobes (0.6–)0.9–2(–3.5) mm; corolla usually bright purple, rarely pink-lilac to pure white. Legumes pale green, often purple-freckled or purple-mottled, usually broadly and plumply ovoid-acuminate, rarely quite narrowly so, nearly always bladdery-inflated, 14–27(–36) × (5–)8–18 mm, ± bilocular, papery-membranous, subtranslucent, glabrous or sparsely strigulose-villosulous; beak (2–)3–7(–10) mm, unilocu­lar. Seeds (17–)19–31.

Phenology: Flowering late Mar–Jul (Sep–Oct).
Habitat: Braided stream gravel in riparian communities, gravelly slopes in creosote bush, Joshua tree, juniper, pinyon-juniper, and Jeffrey pine communities.
Elevation: 700–2500(–2800) m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah.

Discussion

Variety fremontii is common from southeastern California across southern Nevada to southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona and may be very abundant when adequate moisture is available at an appropriate time. To the south and west, it grades into the larger-flowered var. variabilis; to the north in western Nevada, it grades into var. kennedyi.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.