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Purple and Blue Wildflower Gallery

Bilateral Symmetry - Legume Family - Breadroots

Fabaceae (Leguminosae) - Legume family

Largebract Indian Breadroot (Tallbread Scurfpea, Tall Scurfpea, Tall Scurfy Pea) Pediomelum cuspidatum (Psoralea cuspidatum)

Flower stalk about 4" tall and 1"-2" wide. Flowers are upright.  5-7 leaflets are palmate, about 3"-4" wide, not hairy. Plant looks like a pale, lazy bluebonnet. Multiple, upright to reclined branches grow about 2 feet long. Oval pod with a single seed. Plant has large tap root.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, April 2005

(Native of Texas - Taylor, Jones, Runnels, Brown, Eastland)

Flowers blue or purplish, 1/2"-3/4" long, often sweet clover scent.

Fruit 1/4" long, completely enclosed in the calyx.

Leaflets broadly lanceolate to rhombic, elliptic or obovate, 2-3(-5) times as long as wide.

Peduncle (flower stalk) longer than petioles (leaf stalk).

Petiole (leaf stalk) is subtending (below the leaf).

Stems decumbent or ascending; occasionally erect, to about 30" long, freely branched.

Glands dot leaves and fruit.

Similar Species

Prairie Turnip (Large Indian Breadroot, Breadroot Scurfpea) Pediomelum esculentum (Psoralea esculenta)

(Native of Texas - Nolan)

Fabaceae (Leguminosae) - Legume family

Indian Breadroot Pediomelum hypogaeum var. subulatum (Pediomelum subulatum, Psoralea hypogaea var. subulatum)

Lavender flower is about 1/2" long in large round clusters. Leaves are divided into 5-7 leaflets that are 1"-2" long Leaves are hairy giving the edge a white line. Compact plant grows from a large edible tuber.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, April 2005

(Native of Texas)

Flowers a dense spike-like raceme; petals purplish or lavender, the pale banner.

Fruit pod 15-20 mm long, densely pubescent, projecting well past the expanding calyx.

Leaflets broad, 1/2"-1 1/2" wide and less than two times as long as wide.

Peduncle (flower stalk) is more than half as long or as long as petiole (leaf stalk).

Petiole (leaf stalk) is subtending (below the leaf).

Hairs on peduncles and petioles are wide-spreading.

Similar Species

Edible Scurfpea (Indian Breadroot) Pediomelum hypogaeum var. hypogaeum (Psoralea hypogaeum var. hypogaeum, Psoralea  hypogaea)

(Native of Texas - Panhandle)

Leaflets mostly elliptic, up to 8 times as long as broad.

Peduncle (flower stalk) is more than half as long or as long as petiole (leaf stalk).

Petiole (leaf stalk) is subtending (below the leaf).

Little Breadroot Scurfpea (Indian Breadroot) Pediomelum hypogaeum var. scaposum (Pediomelum scaposum, Psoralea hypogaea var. scaposum, Pediomelum goughiae, Pediomelum pentaphyllum var. scaposum)

(Native of Texas)

Leaflets narrow 1/4"-1/2" wide, 3-4 times as long as wide.

Peduncle (flower stalk) is more than half as long as petiole (leaf stalk).

Petiole (leaf stalk) is subtending (below the leaf).

Hairs on peduncles and petioles are appressed (lie down) or closely ascending.

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