Acmispon denticulatus
meadow birds-foot trefoil
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
meadow birds-foot trefoil
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems mostly erect or ascending, 10-50 cm tall, few-branched, finely short-hairy.
Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound; leaflets 3 or 4, two at the tip of the flattened axis and 1 or 2 on one side, elliptic to egg-shaped, 1-2 cm long, short-hairy, the margins fine-toothed; stipules tiny, gland-like.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of single, nearly stalkless, axillary pea-like flowers; corollas 4-8 mm long, creamy-white with a purplish-tipped banner; calyces short-soft-hairy to glabrous, 3-5 mm long, the linear teeth twice as long as the brown-mottled tube.
Fruits:
Pods, broadly oblong, 8-15 mm long, appressed soft-hairy, not constricted between the seeds; seeds 2 to 4, grey, flattened, 2.5-4 mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Acmispon denticulatus
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
690 | 411 | 933 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
25 | 0 | 70 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
143 | 30 | 260 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 1 | 7 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
17 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
BG | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BG(5), CWH(1), ICH(1), IDF(5), PP(3), SBS(1) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Mesic open, often sandy meadows, grassy slopes, river bars and lakeshores in the lowland, steppe and lower montane zones; common in BC S of 55degreeN, except absent from the Queen Charlotte Islands, N Vancouver Island and adjacent coast; S to N CA.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Lotus denticulatus (E. Drew) Greene