''Acmispon glaber'' (previously ''Lotus scoparius'') (common deerweed, deer weed, deervetch, California broom or western bird's-foot trefoil) is a perennial

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

(pea family). The plant is a pioneer species found in dry areas of California, Arizona, and Mexico. It is commonly found in many areas including

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

, coastal sand and roadsides at elevations below 1500 m.

Description

The ''Acmispon glaber'' stems are green, erect, somewhat branched, with small, deciduous, pinnate leaves consisting of three to six leaflets. The plant blooms from about March to August and has flowers that are bilateral, small (7–11 mm), yellow, and clustered together in an inflorescence consisting of two to seven flowers in the upper leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s. The flowers become reddish with age. The fruit consists of a curved legume with two

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

Ecology

''Acmispon glaber'' is a food consumed by numerous wildlife, providing intake for

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

s, bees, butterfly larvae, and deer. Among the larvae are the

Acmon blue ''Icaricia acmon'', the Acmon blue, is a North American butterfly. It ranges mainly in California but can be seen north to Oregon and south through Baja California. Wingspan is 17-30 mm. The tops of the wings are blue with dark edges in males a ...

Afranius duskywing ''Erynnis afranius'', the afranius duskywing or bald duskywing, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from northern Mexico through the central United States to southern Canada in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manito ...

, Avalon scrub hairstreak, bramble hairstreak,

funereal duskywing ''Erynnis funeralis'', the funereal duskywing, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, south to Argentina and Chile. Strays can be found north up to northern Illinois, north ...

, and

northern cloudywing ''Thorybes pylades'', the northern cloudywing, is a butterfly species of the family Hesperiidae. Description The wingspan of ''T. pylades'' is between 32 and 47 mm. Both males and females have completely dark brown wings except for the smal ...

. Common plant associates in

, especially in the transition between coastal chaparral and

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is w ...

, include California sagebrush and toyon. Landowners seeking to provide a home for reintroducing the Palos Verdes blue butterfly have been required to have sufficient ''Acmispon glaber'' plants to provide the butterflies with shelter. Adult ''Acmispon glaber'' plants are usually killed by fire due to their thin epidermis and broom-like foliage that burns easily, but the seeds of ''Acmispon glaber'' are scarified by fire and readily germinate in the first rainy season after a fire. For 2 to 3 years after a fire in a sage scrub habitat, the flora consists primarily of herbaceous annuals and short-lived herbaceous perennials, but after the first 2–3 years, ''Acmispon glaber'' generally becomes dominant, being gradually replaced by long-lived shrubs after 5–10 years post-fire. Due to their seeds' fire adaptation, ''Acmispon glaber'' benefits from heat scarification in cultivation. Heat treatment significantly increases germination rate. *''Acmispon glaber'' var. ''brevialatus '' is endemic to California.

References

External links

USDA: ''Lotus scoparius''

Jepson Flora Project: ''Lotus scoparius''

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15490404, from2=Q3024330 glaber Flora of Arizona Flora of California Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Butterfly food plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status