4218

Forb
Annual

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Rare, endemic to Piedmont of ne. GA-SC-NC-sc. VA

Look for it in dry woodlands and openings, originally probably limited to prairie-like sites (fire-maintained, post oak-blackjack oak savannas), generally on clayey soils, now primarily seen on roadbanks, along railroads, and in powerline rights-of-way, where mowing and bush-hogging have replaced fire as the force keeping the habitat open, sunny, and suitable for this plant of prairie affinities, per Weakley's Flora

To see a detailed map, click here

 

...Dry

LEAVES:
Compound: 3 leaflets
Mostly alternate

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Standard pale pink, wings yellowish tinged with pink, keel yellowish
Bilaterally symmetrical
5-parted papilionaceous corolla
10 stamens, diadelphous, 9 and 1
Superior ovary

Inflorescence a single flower, usually

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (5/21/15):
Acmispon helleri   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Lotus unifoliolatus var. helleri   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH The Biota of North America Program. BONAP (Kartesz, 2015)
Acmispon americanus var. helleri

SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Lotus purshianus var. helleri

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-17-001:
Lotus helleri   FAMILY Fabaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
Acmispon helleri