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3 Leaflets 5-9, leaflets in a conventionally pinnate arrangement; flowers white, 3-11 in a terminal inflorescence; [Coastal Plain of FL, GA, and SC] | |
4 Stems erect (not prostrate, trailing, or twining), with 4-6 (-8) leaves, usually alternately bent at nodes; inflorescence subsessile, 1-6-flowered | |
4 Stems prostrate, trailing, or twining, with numerous leaves (except in depauperate plants), not bent at nodes; inflorescence pedunculate, 1-flowered if sessile or subsessile. | |
6 Corollas 7-11 mm; stems strigose to hirsute or hirsute-pilose, herbaceous to weakly lignescent or (G. striata) strongly lignescent. | |
7 Banner striped with white lines; [c. and s. FL peninsula, coastal and near-coastal] | |
7 Banner not striped; [collectively widespread]. | |
8 Fruits falcate; flowers 1-5, solitary and pedicellate or 2-5 on an inflorescence axis 1-4 (-40) mm long; [TX] | |
8 Fruits straight; flowers 1-8 (-16), solitary and pedicellate or 2-8 (-16) on an inflorescence axis 10-150(-280) mm long; [collectively widespread]. | |
10 Leaflets narrowly oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 6-14 mm wide; fruits 35-65 mm long, seeds 12-15 per fruit; [TX] | |
5 Stems procumbent at least proximally and variously twining, weakly twining, or not twining towards the tip. | |
12 Stems gray retrorse-strigose; leaflets roundish, 1-1.3× as long as wide; stems 'rooting' at nodes, producing rhizomes; inflorescences of 2 types: 1) aerial inflorescences with chasmogamous flowers, and 2) single, subterranean, cleistogamous flowers that develop into 1-seeded legumes; [TX and southwards] | |
12 Stems variously hairy to glabrous, but not gray retrorse-strigose; leaflets elongate, > 1.5× as long as wide; stems not rooting at nodes; inflorescences all aerial with chasmogamous flowers; [LA and eastwards] | |
13 Calyx lobes brown to reddish brown on inner surface when dry; corollas distinctly dark reddish when dry, persisting after withering, sometimes still present when fruit is mature | |
15 Leaflets elliptic, oblanceolate-elliptic, oblong-elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or broadly lanceolate, (4-) 7-25 (-32) mm wide; [mainly Coastal Plain, s. NJ south to s. FL, west to s. MS] | |
17 Leaflets 8-30 × 5-20 mm; flowers solitary and axillary or 2-6. | |