Fabaceae: Pea Family — Acmispon (native lotus)
The pea family has 5-petaled flowers, consisting of a wide upper banner petal, two wing petals, plus two lower petals which are fused to form a boat-shaped keel. Many produce heads or spikes, consisting of multiple individual flowers (examples are lupines and clovers). The seed pod is generally a “legume”. This is a long, flattish pod, swollen by the seeds, and splitting lengthwise along both the top and bottom.
Spanish Lotus – Acmispon americanus var. americanus
Blooms:
May–Oct
Plant Height:
5–60 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Disturbed areas
Notes:
This has distinctive cream-white to pale pink or red flowers, delicate and borne singly. Each stem has 3 leaflets and often a pair of leaf-like bracts as well. The plant is usually covered in long pale gray hairs. Despite its common name, this is a California native.
Short-podded Lotus – Acmispon brachycarpus
Blooms:
May–July
Plant Height:
5–40 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Dry sandy or gravelly ridges or slopes
Notes:
This has ashy-green leaves, with soft spreading hairs. The leaflets are 4–12 mm long, in groups of four. Flowers are borne singly in the leaf axils, and are more or less sessile, also surrounded by soft, spreading hairs. Fruits are short (6–12 mm) and almost hidden by the calyx lobes (see photo on right).
Bentham’s Lotus – Acmispon cytisoides
Blooms:
Mar–July
Plant Height:
10–80 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Sandy or gravelly soils
Notes:
A low-growing and often mat-forming plant. Easily distinguished by its pink and white flowers, 3–10 in each inflorescence, on 2–12 mm peduncles. Leaves have 3–5 smooth, elliptic to obovate leaflets.
Deerweed – Acmispon glaber var. glaber
Blooms:
Mar–Aug
Plant Height:
0.5–2 m
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Chaparral, roadsides, coastal sands
Notes:
A common perennial, often shrubby. It comes in two rather different forms. Away from the immediate coast, it usually has numerous long stout stems, both erect and branching. In shady places it may be trailing rather than erect, and on beaches it can be mat-forming. In all forms, it has sessile clusters of 2–7 yellow flowers, arranged in umbels and turning reddish with age. Photo #1 by CJH.
Large-flowered Lotus – Acmispon grandiflorus var. grandiflorus
Blooms:
Apr–June
Plant Height:
5–15 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Dry, open, disturbed areas in chaparral or yellow pine forest above 300 m
Notes:
The flowers are distinctive, creamy-yellow to deep pinkish-red and almost 2.5 cm long. They are found in a tight cluster of 3–9 flowers, at the tip of a peduncle about 5 cm long. Each leaf has 7–9 pointed leaflets. Fruits are up to 6 cm long.
Bioletti’s Rush Lotus – Acmispon junceus var. biolettii
Blooms:
Apr–July
Plant Height:
Stem 10–80 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Coastal sand & chaparral
Notes:
A prostrate plant, finely strigose with wiry, decumbent stems and yellow, red-tinged flowers in 2–8-flowered umbels. Calyx lobes are broad with acute tips. The inflorescences are borne on long, 8–25 mm peduncles.
Rush Lotus – Acmispon junceus var. junceus
Blooms:
Apr–July
Plant Height:
Stem 10–80 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Chaparral, occasionally serpentine
Notes:
Very similar to Bioletti’s Rush Lotus (var. biolettii, see above) except that the inflorescences are almost sessile, on peduncles that are less than 5 mm long.
Coast Lotus – Acmispon maritimus var. maritimus
Blooms:
Mar–June
Plant Height:
5–15 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Coastal, rocky slopes & clay soils
Notes:
Rather uncommon in Monterey County, generally found close to the coast. This is a more or less prostrate plant with oval to roundish, rather succulent leaves. Flowers are 2–4 per peduncle. They have an unusual appearance, with a keel that is about as long as the wings, and wings that appear curved round, almost cupping the keel.
Small-flowered Lotus – Acmispon parviflorus
Blooms:
Apr–June
Plant Height:
5–40 cm
Flower Size:
Very small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Grassy slopes
Notes:
A low growing, spreading plant with small (4–6 mm) creamy-white to pink flowers, one per peduncle. Calyx lobes are about the same length as the tube. Leaflets are glabrous to sparsely hairy, 4–12 mm long and in groups of 3–5.
Bishop’s Lotus – Acmispon strigosus
Blooms:
Feb–July
Plant Height:
5–15 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Dry sandy or gravelly flats & slopes
Notes:
Common in open, sunny areas, this has slender, stiff-haired leaves and yellow flowers with red veins. The back of the banner is generally reddish-orange and flowers turn reddish in age. Leaves have 4–9 leaflets, narrowly oblanceolate to obovate. The fruit is a reddish pod up to 35 mm long. Despite its name, the plant is not necessarily strigose.
Woolly Lotus – Acmispon tomentosus var. tomentosus
Blooms:
Mar–Oct
Plant Height:
30–100 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Coastal scrub & chaparral
Notes:
A woolly, prostrate, mat-forming plant. It has yellow to red-tinged flowers, in 3–8 flowered umbels with bracted 1–5 mm pedicels. There are two varieties. Woolly Lotus (see photos) has 5–6 mm flowers, with ovaries that generally have soft, spreading hairs. The plant persistently remains densely white-hairy. There is a similar variety called Acmispon tomentosus var. glabriusculus, not pictured. This has 4–5 mm flowers, with ovaries that are finely strigose, and is found in moist areas away from the coast. It is hairy when young, but becomes less so as it ages. Photo #3 by CJH.
Chile Lotus – Acmispon wrangelianus
Blooms:
Mar–June
Plant Height:
5–15 cm
Flower Size:
Small
Origin:
Native
Habitat:
Grassy slopes
Notes:
The flower is similar to Bishop’s Lotus (Acmispon strigosus, see above) but the leaves are quite different. There are 3–5 leaflets, elliptic to ovate with fine hairs, either strigose or soft and spreading. Flowers are sessile, solitary and remain pure yellow. Photo #1 by CJH.
