Acmispon micranthus

Small flowered lotus

Family: Fabaceae · Type: annual · Native

Small flowered lotus is a California native annual found in southern coastal ranges, southern California, southern Channel Islands, and Peninsular Ranges in coastal scrub, desert canyons, and disturbed areas at elevations below 600 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces yellow flowers about 3 to 5 millimeters long with a distinctive keel petal longer than other petals. Growing with prostrate to ascending stems 10 to 80 centimeters long that are glabrous or slightly hairy, it spreads close to the ground. Its leaves are irregularly pinnate with 4 to 7 leaflets, each 7 to 15 millimeters long, arranged oppositely or asymmetrically and having an obovate to elliptic shape. The fruit is an exserted linear pod 1 to 1.5 centimeters long, curved and occasionally bearing small horn-like processes with a hooked 2 to 3 millimeter beak.

Habitat: Coastal scrub, desert canyons, washes, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 600 m

Bioregions: s SCoR, SCo, s ChI, PR

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, El Dorado, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Butte, Trinity, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, Shasta, Del Norte, Ventura, San Bernardino, San Diego, Napa, Amador, Santa Cruz, Fresno, Santa Clara, Calaveras, Placer, Sacramento, Mariposa, Orange, Monterey

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.