Category: Fabaceae

Lespedeza capitata

~ Badger Johnson

Lespedeza capitata, “Round-headed bush clover”
Fabaceae

Thanks Calvin Maginel for pointing this out when we were on Stegall Mountain!

Picture one is from Prairie Moon Nursery, picture two is my own and shows L. capitata is on the left, and Lespedeza virginica is pictured on the right, with a probable hybrid shown in the middle. Very cool to see intermediate blending of the traits. Lespedezas like hybridizing.

L. capitata was one of our more drought-resistant native Lespedezas.
L. capitata has tannins, the flavonoids lespecapitosine and kaempferitrin, and two flavonoid derivatives apigenin and luteolin. It is valued by contemporary herbalists for use in an infusion, as an astringent & diuretic for tumors, as well as urinary and kidney ailments. Research has shown that it lowers blood cholesterol levels, removes nitrogenous compounds from the blood, and is useful against certain carcinosarcomas.
Round Headed Bush Clover is a host plant to a number of butterflies and moths, including the Southern Cloudywing Butterfly, Northern Cloudywing Butterfly, Hoary Edge Butterfly, Silver-Spotted Skipper, the Bella Moth, and the Common Ptichodis Moth. The plant is especially high in protein making it a favorite choice of many kinds of mammalian wildlife including deer, rabbits, and muskrat. It can also be used in pastures as livestock forage. The seeds are eaten by gamebirds and songbirds, including the Mourning Dove, Bobwhite, Turkey, and Junco.

Chamaecrista fasciculata

~ Badger Johnson

Chamaecrista fasciculata, “showy partridge pea”
Fabaceae

I first met this native annual legume at Oak Spirit.

Excellent pollinator plant with extra-floral nectaries at the base of its leaves. Meaning the thing is putting out nectar for pollinators that aren’t even visiting its flowers, much like some strains of elderberrie. It is often planted for honey production and soil stabilization, the seeds are one of the major food items of bobwhite and other quail. If there is a seed source it often moves in early after soil disturbance, then politely fades out when its work is done. Nutritious livestock forage but poisonous when consumed in large amounts (like most forage species lol).

(NRCS Plant Fact Sheet)

Apparently Cherokee athletes would use the root to keep from tiring during ball games??

(“Medicinal Plants of the Heartland”, Kaye and Billington)

Upright, 60-90 cm tall, unbranched, or few-branched near or above middle of stem.

Pinnately compound, leaflets 10-20 mm long, 2-5 mm wide.

Gland located near middle of petiole sessile or nearly so (potentially unreliable; use leaflets)

Yellow flowers, petals subequal (largest petal only slightly larger than others), 25-30 mm diameter, 10 stamens.

Prairies, glades, fallow fields.

Compare with C. nictitans (leaves fold rapidly when touched, smaller leaves and flowers, gland on stalk)

(Hybrid MOFEP/Park Service Fire Ecology Manual)

Thanks Erik Peterson for inspiring this post with your Hibiscus laevis share

Lespedeza frutescens

~ Badger Johnson

Lespedeza frutescens, “Violet bush clover”
Fabaceae

First saw this working at ONSR, then Daniel Boone showed it to me in Mount Airy Forest at the buffalo clover patch. Was doing very well there.

Stems usually much branched, often below middle, covered in appressed hairs. *Often grows in spreading clumps. Delicate overall appearance. Leaves 2-ranked on stem.

Leaflets glabrous above, rounded, often a light green color, with obvious darker green lateral venation.

Racemes loose, few-flowered, some flowers with petals on peduncles exceeding subtending leaves (plus flowers without petals on short stalks in leaf axils). Keels exceeding other petals.

Found growing in rocky open woods, thickets, rocky prairies.
Compare with L. violacea (narrower leaves, taller and more solitary habit).

Senna marilandica

~ Badger Johnson

 

Senna marilandica, “Senna”
Fabaceae

Glabrous leaves, upright habit, leaflets are on the largish side. Useful as a laxative due to the antraquinone content. Popular species for pollinator gardens, forms colonies and bares spectacular yellow flowers. I think that first pic was actually taken at Hot Springs National Park, the second is just below the East Wind glade on the path in.

Erect perennial to 1-2 m, glabrous or sparsely villous.

Leaves glabrous, pinnately compound; leaflets are large (2-5 cm long, 10-25 mm wide), oblong to elliptic. No terminal
leaflet. Stipules lance-linear, deciduous.

Rocky woodlands, alluvial thickets.

Compare with Astragalus canadensis (undersurface of leaf hasstiff straight appressed hairs) and Lathyrus venosus (tendrils).

(Hybrid MOFEP/National Park Fire Ecology Manual)

Desmanthus illinoiensis

~ Badger Johnson

Desmanthus illinoiensis, “Illinois bundleflower”
Fabaceae

Over the past few years I’ve picked up quite a bit of lore about this plant, and I was happy to finally notice it on the roadside yesterday!

A common plant in many areas of the south central and Midwestern US. It can often be found growing on the sides of roads, needing full sun and ample moisture during its short growing season. USDA Zones 5-8 are recommended for outside cultivation (Wikipedia).

People have had good luck interesting it into existing warm season pastures (Dovel, Hussey, Holt 1990). Bundleflower can contribute protein in summer pastures in the Midwest (Fischbach et al. 2005). In a study comparing the possibility of native prairie legumes, sheep found Illinois bundleflower extremely palatable (Sheaffer, Wyse, Ehlke 2009). Illinois bundleflower also appears to have the greatest potential as a forage species among 15 species of native legumes evaluated for forage yield, quality, and seed production (McGraw et al. 2004).

Root bark of D. illinoensis has been found to contain N,N-DMT, NMT, N-hydroxy-N-methyltryptamine, 2-hydroxy-N-methyltryptamine, and gramine (toxic). The root bark is mixed with a native source of beta-Carbolines (e.g., passion flower in North America) to produce a hallucinogenic drink called prairiehuasca, which is an analog of the shamanic brew ayahuasca.

At one time the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas looked into using its seed as breeding stock for a novel, perennial, temperate, leguminous human food but have dropped it and are evaluating other leads.

(Wikipedia)