Pomaria melanosticta

Subshrubs, 30–60 cm; from roots thickened at ground level. Mature stems gray to red-brown, striate, sometimes canescent. Leaves 30–75 × 20–45 mm; stipules linear-lanceolate, 2–4 × 0.5–1 mm, margins slightly pectinate to double-laciniate, densely villous; pinnae 5–9; leaflets 4–8 per pinna, blades oblong to oblong-obovate, 3–13 × 2–7 mm, apex rounded to slightly emarginate, surfaces densely white-villous to strigose abaxially, especially margins and midveins, also evenly covered with glandular-punctate trichomes, sparsely pilose adaxially. Racemes 10–31-flowered, terminal, 7–30 cm. Flowers upright, turbinate in outline, 6–10 × 6–10 mm; abaxial sepal 5–8 × 2–3 mm; lateral sepals 5–9 × 2–3 mm; sepals villous abaxially and marginally, also densely covered with 2 kinds of glandular trichomes, with larger punctate hairs that dry black, and smaller non-punctate hairs that remain orange or red; banner bright yellow with red spots, 4–6 × 1.5–2 mm, villous in fold and abaxial portions of claw, glabrous or with glandular-punctate trichomes abaxially; lateral petals yellow, fading pink or dull red, 5–6 × 2–3 mm, glabrous or villous on abaxial blade claw. Legumes upright, obliquely oblong in outline, curved distally, 20–32 × 10–15 mm, pilose and with scattered glandular-punctate trichomes and dense, red columnar multicellular projections to 2 mm, with white trichomes laterally and apically, margins fringed with dense array of similar multicellular projections to 1 mm. Seeds 1 or 2.

Phenology: Flowering summer–early fall.
Habitat: Limestone or gypsum soils.
Elevation: 500–2000 m.

Loading map...

Tex., Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas).

Discussion

Pomaria melanosticta is known from Brewster and Presidio counties.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa