Angiosperms: Dicotyledons

Fabaceae
Legume Family

• Stem: perennial; 2’ tall; widely branched, shrublike; very hairy, yellowish in the spring.
• Leaves: alternate; compound leaves 1 5/8” by 2”, nearly sessile; three leaflets, the middle one 1 5/8” by 1/2”, wider above the middle, blunt-pointed tip; large basal leaflets (stipules); very hairy.
• Inflorescence: horizontal racemes or drooping at the sides of plant, 6” to 12” long; each flower on a hairy stalk, about 1” long.
• Flowers: corolla pale yellow to cream, 1” long; calyx 5/16” long, wide-spreading, blunt tips, hairy; flowering from mid-May to early June.
• Fruits: inflated pods are 1 1/2” long by 1/2” in diameter with a 1/4” beak; black at maturity; seeds are about 1/8” long; fruiting begins in late May.
• Habitat: frequent on dry to moist prairies and in open woods in northeastern Iowa.
• Notes: Weevils and other seed predators often destroy the seeds before the seeds mature. In the fall the stems and leaves become blackened and detach from the rootstock, the plant becoming a “tumbleweed.”
• Bibliography from Biodiversity Heritage Library