''Acmispon decumbens'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the family Fabaceae, native to the western United States (Nevada, California) and north-western Mexico (

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

). It was first described by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

in 1836 as ''Hosackia decumbens''. It grows in several types of habitat, including mountain forest and meadows. It is a spreading or mat-forming perennial herb coated in long hairs. It is lined with leaves each made up of small green oval leaflets. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

bears up 12 pinkish yellow pealike flowers each a centimeter long or more. The fruit is a slender, bent, beaked

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...

pod.

Varieties

Two varieties are recognized: *''Acmispon decumbens'' var. ''decumbens''; synonyms include ''Acmispon nevadensis'' (S.Watson) Brouillet, ''Hosackia heermannii'' L.C.Anderson, ''Syrmatium nevadense'' (S.Watson) Greene *''Acmispon decumbens'' var. ''davidsonii'' (Greene) Govaerts; synonyms include ''Lotus davidsonii'' Greene

References

decumbens Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of Northeastern Mexico Plants described in 1836 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Loteae-stub