Acmispon maritimus

Jepson 2012, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous annuals, very small to robust, stems clustered, prostrate to ascending, herbage glabrous or strigose. Leaves: Alternate, irregularly pinnate with 3-7 obovate to rounded, alternate leaflets, 0.5-1.5 cm long, the terminal leaflet the largest, blade axis flat, stipules inconspicuous. Flowers: Bright yellow, with banner, wing, and keel petals, sepals 5, fused, calyx lobes shorter that the tube with strigose surfaces, stamens 10 with 9 filaments fused and the uppermost 1 free, pistil 1, style 1, stigma 1, glabrous, ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, ovules 1-many, hypanthium absent or flat to tubular, inflorescences generally 2-4-flowered on peduncles 5-15 mm long, flowers bracted or not. Fruits: Narrowly oblong legumes, ascending and exserted, 1.5-3 cm long, curved to flat, occasionally with small horn-like processes and hooked beaks 0.5-1.5 mm long, fruits dehiscent. Seeds 5-9 per legume. Ecology: Found on dry soils on hills and mesas, to 3,000 ft (914 m); flowering February-May. Distribution: Arizona, California; Mexico. Notes: This low-growing lotus has bright yellow flowers and thickish, puberulent to white-hairy leaves. Ethnobotany: Specific uses for this species are unknown, but other species in the genus have uses. Etymology: Acmispon comes from the Greek acme for point or hook, and salsuginosus means growing in places overflowed by salt water, e.g. salt marshes. Synonyms: Anisolotus maritimus, Hosackia maritima, Lotus salsuginosus Editor: LCrumbacher2012