Leavenworthia exigua

Stems (when present) 1-1.5 dm. Basal leaves: petiole 1.2-4 cm; blade 2.5-4.5(-6) cm, lobes 1-4 on each side, margins entire or shallowly dentate, terminal lobe orbicular to broadly ovate, 0.5-1 cm × 4-10 mm, considerably larger than lateral lobes, margins entire or shallowly dentate. Fruiting pedicels: solitary flowers 30-60 mm; racemes 10-25 mm. Flowers: sepals widely spreading, oblong-linear, 3-4.5(-5) × 0.9-1.5 mm; petals spreading, white, lavender, or yellow, spatulate, (5-)6-8(-9) × 1.7-3(-4) mm, claw yellow, 1.8-2.5 mm, apex shallowly emarginate, apical notch 0.1-0.4(-0.6) mm deep; filaments: median 2.2-4.2 mm, lateral 1-1.9 mm; anthers 0.5-0.9 mm. Fruits oblong, (1-)1.5-2.2 cm × (3.5-)4-5(-5.5) mm, smooth, latiseptate, (not margined); valves thin; ovules (4-)6-14 per ovary; style 0.7-1.7(-2.2) mm. Seeds 2.5-3.5 mm diam.; wing 0.2-0.5 mm wide; embryo straight. 2n = 22.

Flowering Mar-May. Limestone glades, pastures, near limestone sinks, roadsides, old fields, thin soil over limestone beds; 70-300 m; Ala., Ga., Ky., Tenn.

Principal lvs 1.5-5 cm, the lobes shallowly toothed, the terminal lobe markedly larger than the lateral ones; sep green; fls white with a light yellow eye, the pet 6-9 mm, shallowly emarginate; frs strongly flattened, obtuse above and below, oblong, 1-2 cm נ3.5-5.5 mm, the persistent style 2-3 mm; seeds 4-10, evidently winged, irregularly orbicular, 3-4 mm, the areolae of the reticulum much smaller over the embryo than on the wing; radicle straight; 2n=22. Ky. to Ga. and Ala. Ours is var. laciniata Rollins.

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

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