Sphinctospermum constrictum

Wiggins 1964, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Stems simple or sparingly ascendingly branched, 20-60 cm tall, slender, sparingly strigose to glabrate. Leaves: Simple, sessile, linear, 1-3 mm broad, 2-8 cm long, glabrous or with a few scattered hairs, pale green. Flowers: Pedicels 1-5 mm long, lobes lance-subulate, slightly spreading, equaling or slightly exceeding tube, corolla pink about 5 mm long. Fruits: Pod linear, 2.5-3 mm wide, 3-4 cm long, straight, glabrous, pendent at an angle of about 40 degrees. Ecology: Uncommon, found on grassy hillsides and plains, mostly in sandy soil. likes the open from 2,500-4,000 ft (762-1219 m); flowers July-September. Notes: Hour glass shaped seeds are very distinctive. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Sphinctospermum means pinched seed, while constrictum means constricted also.  Synonyms: Tephrosia constricta Editor: SBuckley, 2010