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1 Legume pilose with hairs > 1 mm long; stems conspicuously pubescent, the hairs spreading and simple; plants decumbent, spreading, or ascending, the stems 0.5-4 dm long. |
..2 Corolla 14-19 mm long; leaflets 17-29; legume bilocular; calyx lobes shorter than the calyx tube; [of calcareous habitats of the interior] |
..2 Corolla 8-12 mm long; leaflets (5-) 7-15; legume unilocular; calyx lobes equaling or longer than the calyx tube [of dry sandy habitats from SC south] |
1 Legume glabrous; stems glabrous or inconspicuously pubescent, the hairs appressed, simple or dolabriform; plants erect with stems (3-) 4-15 dm long, or decumbent with stems 1-3 dm long ( A. distortus var. distortus and A. bibullatus). |
....3 Plants erect, stems (3-) 4-15 dm long; legume straight to moderately curved. |
......4 Lower stipules connate; pubescence dolabriform; legumes 1-1.5 cm long, 4-5 mm in diameter; [typically of dry to mesic soils] |
......4 Lower stipules free; pubescence simple; legumes either longer or wider (2-3 cm long and 4-6 mm in diameter in A. michauxii, 1.5-2.0 cm long and 8-18 mm in diameter in A. neglectus); [typically of notably dry, either rocky or sandy, soils]. |
........5 Leaves with 21-31 coriaceous to somewhat fleshy leaflets, many of the leaflets alternate or subopposite; legumes 2-3 cm long, 4-6 mm in diameter; [of dry sandy habitats from NC south] |
........5 Leaves with 11-23 thin-textured leaflets, all of the leaflets usually opposite; legumes 1.5-2 cm long, 8-18 mm in diameter; [of rocky calcareous habitats from VA north] |
....3 Plants decumbent or ascending, stems 1-5 dm long; legume either dry and strongly curved (about 90 degrees), or globose and initially fleshy. |
..........6 Legume globose, 1.3-2 cm in diameter, initially fleshy; corolla 18-25 mm long; [of calcareous glades of c. TN] |
............ 7 Pubescence of the calyx densely and softly white-tomentose; flowers yellowish-white; [prairies; s. IL s. to c. LA westward] |
............ 7 Pubescence of the calyx thinly pilose; flowers purple-colored; [endemic to calcareous glades of c. TN] |
..........6 Legume lanceolate, 1.2-2.5 cm long, 4-7 mm wide, strongly curved; corolla 4-15 mm long; [of various dry habitats, either from w. VA northward or from FL west in the Coastal Plain beyond our area]. |
............ ..8 Corolla 4-7 mm long; legume 2-3.5 mm wide |
............ ..8 Corolla (7-) 8-15 mm long; legume 4-7 mm wide. |
............ ....9 Leaflets mostly 1-2× as long as wide, typically noticeably notched at the tip; mature legume reticulately textured; corolla (7-) 8-11 mm long; [of dry sandy sites in FL and possibly adjacent GA and s. MS] |
............ ....9 Leaflets mostly 2-3.5× as long as wide, truncate or shallowly notched at the tip; mature legume lacking a reticulately textured surface; corolla 9-15 mm long; [either of shaley habitats from w. VA northward or of woodlands and prairies from MS westward] |
............ ......10 Keel 7-9.5 mm long; legume usually 3-4× as ling as wide, often curved 90°, grooved along sutures on both sides |
............ ......10 Keel 6-7 mm long; legume usually 2.5-3.5x as long as wide, nearly straight or curved < 90°, grooved only along one suture |