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Key to Amorpha

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1 Short shrubs, usually 0.3-1 (-1.5) m tall; petioles 1-15 (-20) mm long, usually shorter than the width of the contiguous leaflets (except in A. confusa); leaflets usually slightly or conspicuously revolute.
  2 Plants 3-6 (-10) dm tall; pubescence of stems and leaves cinerous-canescent; [IN, IL, AR, and LA and westwards]
  2 Plants 3-10 (-15) dm tall; pubescence of stems and leaves absent (glabrous), sparse (glabrescent), to pale-puberulent; [NC, SC, GA, and FL].
    3 Leaflet mucros mostly tapered apically; plant usually glabrous or sparsely pubescent.
      4 Leaflets (10-) 15-25 (-35) mm long, (7-) 9-15 (-18) mm wide; standard intense (rarely light) bright blue; petiole (6-) 8-15 (-20) mm long; racemes mostly panicled, (1-) 3-5 (-8) per flowering branch, 10-20 (-45) cm long; flowering Jun-Jul
      4 Leaflets (3-) 6-10 (-15) mm long, (2-) 3-5 (-8) mm wide; standard reddish-purple; petiole 1-3 (-5) mm long; racemes solitary (less commonly panicled), 1 (-4) per flowering branch, (2-) 3-5 (-6) cm long; flowering Apr-May
    3 Leaflet mucros mostly swollen apically; plant usually evidently and rather densely pubescent or puberulent (except A. herbacea var. floridana, of s. GA and FL).
        5 Leaflet margins conspicuously and obviously crenulate; plants glabrous; petiolules 1.5-2.0 mm long; [of s. peninsular FL]
        5 Leaflet margins entire or with few and inconspicuous crenulations; plants glabrescent to conspicuously pubescent; petiolules 1.0-1.5 mm long; [widespread from NC to s. FL].
          6 Upper portions of the plant (stems and leaves) glabrescent; calyx tube glabrous to sparsely or densely minutely strigillose; fruit glabrous; [of s. GA southward]
          6 Upper portions of the plant (stems and leaves) conspicuously pubescent; calyx tube densely puberulent to short pilose; fruit densely to sparsely puberulent (rarely glabrate); [more widespread in our area]
1 Taller shrubs, usually 1-3 (-4) m tall, petioles 10-70 mm long, usually exceeding the width of the contiguous leaflets; leaflets not revolute, or slightly so.
             7 Calyx lobes (1.2-) 2.0-3.5 mm long (thus approaching, equal to, or exceeding the length of the calyx tube); racemes 3-8 (-15) cm long; [Piedmont and low Mountains, NC, SC, GA, and AL]
             7 Calyx lobes (0-) 0.2-1.2 mm long (thus distinctly shorter than the calyx tube); racemes 5-20 (-25) cm long; [collectively widespread].
               8 Leaflets strongly reticulate, the lateral veins especially strongly raised on the lower surface; inflorescence a panicle, the 5-10 racemes elevated on a peduncle well above the uppermost leaf; [w. LA, e. TX, sw. AR, and se. OK]
               8 Leaflets not strongly reticulate; inflorescence of a single or 2-5 racemes, closely subtended by the uppermost leaf; [collectively widespread].
                 9 Calyx lobes obsolete to very small, (0-) 0.2-0.6 (-0.8) mm long; plants glabrous to glabrate; leaflets usually not mucronate, the midrib commonly terminating in a sessile or shortly exserted (0.2-0.4 mm), slightly enlarged, glandular tip; leaflets (9-) 11-15 (-19)
                 9 Calyx lobes small, 0.2-1.2 mm long (the lowermost lobe usually 0.8-1.2 mm long); plants pubescent or puberulent, usually conspicuously so; leaflets usually mucronate, the midrib usually slender, exserted, 0.5-1.5 mm long and tapering; leaflets 9-23 (-31).
                   10 Foliage blackening when dried; leaflets (7-) 9-15 (-19) per leaf, usually shiny above when fresh
                   10 Foliage remaining green when dried; leaflets (7-) 9-23 (-31) per leaf, dull to somewhat shiny above when fresh.
                     11 Midrib of leaflets terminating in a slender, tapering mucro (this sometimes gland-tipped; petiolules usually not glandular-pustulate; leaflet surfaces generally pubescent, conspicuously glandular punctate or not; [moist habitats, such as streambanks, marshes, and shores]; [widespread]
                     11 Midrib of leaflets terminating in a sessile or slightly stalked glandular knob; petiolules usually glandular-pustulate; leaflet surfaces glabrate and also conspicuously glandular punctate; [dry woodland, glade, and bluff habitats]; [AR, OK, LA, TX].
                       12 Leaflets usually 13-19; leaflets narrowly elliptic, 2-3× as long as wide; flowers blue or bluish-purple
                       12 Leaflets usually 9-13; leaflets broadly ovate or broadly elliptic, 1.5-2.2× as long as wide; flowers purple
                          13 Racemes (8-) 10-20 cm long; calyx not obviously gland-dotted on the upper 1/4; [Interior Highlands of w. AR and e. OK]
                          13 Racemes (4-) 6-12 (-20) cm long; calyx obviously gland-dotted on upper 1/3; [Edwards Plateau and immediately adjacent areas of c. TX]