| Tephrosia spicata | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tephrosia spicata at the United States Botanic Garden, Washington D.C. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Genus: | Tephrosia |
| Species: | T. spicata |
| Binomial name | |
| Tephrosia spicata (Walter) Torr. & A. Gray | |
Tephrosia spicata, known commonly as spiked hoarypea, is a plant that grows in North America. [1]
Tephrosia spicata is an herbaceous perennial that grows from a cylindric taproot. It has odd-pinnate leaves with 7 to 29 leaflets (or rarely 1 to 41). Leaves are 4 to 12 cm (1.6 to 4.7 in) long with oblong-obovate to obovate or elliptic leaflets. Leaflets are entire, glabrous or pubescent above and always pubescent beneath, often with prominent secondary veins parallel to each other. [2] [3]
Inflorescences present opposite leaves or terminally, [2] blooming May through August. [4] They are generally 4 to 60 cm (1.6 to 23.6 in) long, [2] curling upward, beginning yellowish white and developing into a pinkish red. [4] Legumes grow 3 to 5 cm (1.2 to 2.0 in) long and 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) broad with sparse to moderate pubescence and trichomes greater than 0.6 mm (0.024 in) long. [2] T. spicata can be differentiated from T. hispidula by its greater number of flowers and more conspicuous gray hairs. [5]
Tephrosia spicata is native to the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States, from southern Delaware to Florida and west to Louisiana and Kentucky. [5] It grows in habitats with dry soils, commonly pine/scrub oak sandhills, [6] longleaf pine sandhills, and other dry oak or mixed hardwood communities. [5]
It decreased in occurrence after agriculture-related soil disturbance in southwest Georgia. [7] However, it increased in frequency and biomass in response to soil disturbance by clearcutting and chopping in north Florida flatwoods forests. [8]
Tephrosia spicata is an indicator species for the Upper Florida Panhandle Savannas community type as described in Carr et al. (2010). [9] It has been known to persist through repeated annual burns. [10]