Foothill Deervetch
Lotus humistratus
Photographed near Vulture Peak, Maricopa Co., Arizona, USA. March 2008.
ANNUAL: Low-growing and often rather small annual of spring. With very
good moisture supply plants can reach 60 cm
across; i.e. the plant is mostly prostrate.
LEAVES: Compound leaves usu. with a dense covering of soft hairs.
FLOWERS: Small, bright yellow pea-flowers.
FRUIT: Dry bean pods just a cm or less long and with a few minute
bean-seeds. Just before maturity pods are reddish.
RANGE: Frequent throughout the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico on
rocky slopes and wash banks, but absent in years with inadequate rainfall.
UNARMED. No spines.