Common name:
Utah bird's-foot trefoil
Family:
Scientific name:
Acmispon utahensis
Synonym:
Lotus utahensis
Main flower color:
Range:
Southwest Utah, northwest Arizona and a small area of southeast Nevada
Height:
Up to 14 inches
Habitat:
Sagebrush, open woodland, on stony or sandy soils, from 4,500 to 9,500 feet
Leaves:
Alternate, strigose hairy, palmately divided into 3 to 5 leaflets, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, up to 1 inch in length
Season:
May to August
Acmispon utahensis is mainly found on the Colorado Plateau of south Utah and north Arizona, extending westwards into the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada. Plants produce several stems, ascending to erect, around one foot tall, often branching a few times, and, like the leaves and calyces, are sparsely covered by short, appressed, strigose hairs. The palmate leaflets are relatively long and narrow, and stalkless, with tiny, gland-like stipules at the base.
Flowers are usually single or paired, occasionally a cluster of three; they have a reddish or green calyx, up to 0.3 inches in length, for which the tube is longer than the teeth, and a yellow to orange corolla about twice as long. The banner petal is strongly recurved, and much broader than the wings. Fruits are straight, linear, sparsely hairy pods, up to 1.5 inches long.
Flowers are usually single or paired, occasionally a cluster of three; they have a reddish or green calyx, up to 0.3 inches in length, for which the tube is longer than the teeth, and a yellow to orange corolla about twice as long. The banner petal is strongly recurved, and much broader than the wings. Fruits are straight, linear, sparsely hairy pods, up to 1.5 inches long.
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