Annual to 1.5 m; stipules and stipellules ovate or lanceolate, striate; lfls 2-8 cm, ovate or rhombic-ovate, broadly rounded at base; infls peduncled from many of the axils, with broadly obtuse to subtruncate bracts and 2-many pale purple to whitish fls 12-18 mm; cal-lobes 1-2 mm; frs 1.5-4 cm, strigose at least on the sutures; 2n=20. Highly variable especially in pubescence, but scarcely divisible into vars. Abundant in woods and thickets; Que. and N.S. to Man. and Mont., s. to Fla. and Tex. Aug., Sept. (A. monoica; A. pitcheri)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

Usually frequent in moist woods throughout the state. Our two species seem to intergrade and some authors regard the next one [A. bracteata var. comosa] as only a race or vigorous form of this species. Schively expresses this doubt when she says the var. comosa is "an extremely vigorous" form of this species (Contr. Bot. Lab. Univ. Pa. 1: 356. 1897). Besides the winter pods, this species has subterranean 1-seeded pods, autumnal 1-seeded pods, and pods, which are usually 3-seeded, from petaliferous flowers. [Amphicarpaea bracteata var. comosa, if recognized, is] infrequent to frequent in moist woods throughout the state and sometimes in prairies. This species much resembles the preceding [Amphicarpaea bracteata] but, besides the characters given in the key to distinguish it, the plant is larger and coarser, and the leaflets especially are thicker and larger.

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 5

Wetland Indicator Status: FAC

Diagnostic Traits: Slender vine; leaves trifoliate, margins entire; inflorescences axillary, their bracts broadly obtuse.