Lespedeza frutescens

Lespedeza frutescens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae ⁄ Leguminosae
Genus:	Lespedeza
Species:	L. frutescens
Binomial name
Lespedeza frutescens (L.) Hornem.
Natural range of Lespedeza frutescens from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Taxonomic notes

Synonym name: Lespedeza violacea (Linnaeus) Peersoon; Lespedeza intermedia sensu Clewell 1966.

Common name: Shrubby lespedeza, violet lespedeza.

Description

“Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs. Leaves pinnately 3-folioate; leaflets entire, estipellate; stipules persistent, setaceous to ovate-lanceolate. Inflorescence usually few-to-many-flowered, loose to compact, sessile to long-pedunculate, axillary or terminal, spictate, racemose, capitate or rarely paniculate cluster; pedicels subtended by a bract and with a pair of inconspicuous bractlets immediately beneath the flower. Both apetalous (cleistogamous) and petaliferous (Chasmogamous) flowers present in most species, but the apetalous flower are more readily detected and more abundant in some species than others. Calyx persistent in fruit, the tube campanulate to cylindric with 5 nearly equal lobes or the upper 2 partly united and shorter; corolla papilionaceous, violet, purplish, roseate, yellow or whitish; stamens diadelphous, 9 and 1. Legume 1-seeded, indehiscent, sessile or stalked, flattened, elliptic, ovate or orbicular.” – Radford et al 1964

"Erect perennial with stems 2-10 dm tall, sparely to densely strigillose or more rarely ascendent-puberulent, becoming glabrate or nearly so below. Leaflets oblong to oblong-elliptic or less commonly or in the uppermost leaves elliptic, ovate, obovate or even suborbicular, the principal leaflets 1.5-4 cm long, those of the upper leaves and of the lateral branches 0.5-2 cm long, usually glabrate to sparsely strigillose or appressed short-pubescent beneath; stipules narrowly linear-subulate to setaceous, mostly less than 4 mm long. Flowers borne in dense, sessile to short-peduncles and axes sparsely to densely strigillose; pedicels of Chasmogamous flowers 1-4 mm long, those of the cleistogamous flowers 0.5-1 mm long. Calyx appressed short-pubescent to strigillose; petals purplish, wings longer than keel and nearly as long as standard. Legume reticulate, sparsely to densely strigillose, elliptic to almost orbicular, 3-7 mm long." - Radford et al 1964

Ecology

Habitat

It is found in the herbaceous cover in young Arkansas loblolly pine plantations. Occurs in open, well drained sandy loam soil type habitats such as oak-pine woods, mature longleaf pine-wiregrass stand, hardwood forests, borders of upland pines, and areas that have frequent fires (FSU Herbarium). Is also found in human disturbed sites such as the dry, gravelly roadsides and old fields (FSU Herbarium).

Associated species include Triplasis americana, Agalinis purpurea, Carya, Quercus stellata, Pinus palustris, and Aristida stricta (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

Has been observed flowering and fruiting from August to November (FSU Herbarium).

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: February 2016. Collectors: Robert K. Godfrey, A.F. Clewell, James R. Burkhalter, Roy Komarek, Norman E. Hill, Loran C. Anderson, H.R. Reed, and Sidney McDaniel. States and Counties: Florida: Leon, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa. Georgia: Chattooga, Grady, Haralson, Heard, Thomas, Walker. Mississippi: Choctaw, Kemper, Pearl River.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 613-7. Print.