Sphaerophysa salsula

Family: Fabaceae
Common Name: None
Symbol: SPSA3
Description: Duration: Perennial Nativity: Non-native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herb, 40-70 cm tall, forming colonies from deep rhizomes; stems erect, more or less canescent toward the top. Leaves: Alternate and pinnately compound, 3-10 cm long, with 15-25 leaflets; leaflets oblong-ovate, 3-18 mm long and 1-7 mm wide, glabrous on the upper surface and strigose on the lower surface. Flowers: Attractive red-orange pea-flowers; arranged in racemes, 2-9 cm long, from the leaf axils; flowers 12-14 mm long; calyx bell-shaped, 5-6 mm long, white-hairy, topped with 5 triangular teeth; petals 5, in papilionaceous configuration (i.e. pea-flowers) with a lower keel-shaped petal which wraps around the stigma and stamens, two lateral wing petals, and a larger, upper banner petal. Petals are brick-red, drying lavender to brown. Fruits: Pods are ovoid and bladdery-inflated, 13-24 mm long, with thin papery walls; on a stipe (small stalk between the persistent calyx and the base of the pod) 4-7 mm long.