PB Bilateral Breadroot

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Purple and Blue Wildflower Gallery

Bilateral Symmetry - Legume Family - Breadroots

Largebract Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum cuspidatum (1)

Largebract Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum cuspidatum (3)

Largebract Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum cuspidatum (2)

Largebract Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum cuspidatum (8)

Largebract Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum cuspidatum (10)

Fabaceae (Leguminosae) - Legume family
Largebract Indian Breadroot (Indian-turnip) 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) Pediomelum esculentum (Psoralea esculenta)
(Native of Texas - Nolan)

Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum hypogaeum var. subulatum

Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum hypogaeum var. subulatum (2)

Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum hypogaeum var. subulatum (1)

Indian Breadroot, Pediomelum hypogaeum var. subulatum (3)

Fabaceae (Leguminosae) - Legume family
Indian Breadroot (Subterranean Indian Breadroot) Pediomelum hypogaeum (Psoralea hypogaea)
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 - Callahan, Brown)

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.

Also see:
Legumes Milkvetch

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