General:
Indian Breadroot (Pediomelum castoreum) is a low-growing, somewhat mounded annual forb with many basal leaves and short flowering stalks. The petioles are long, the leaves are palmate (like a hand with an upright palm and fingers held upward), but the leaflets are unequal in length. Flowerheads look a bit like pine cones with purple pea flowers peeking out.
Calyx lobes very unequal (lower lobe much enlarged).
Indian breadroot is an uncommon component of desert vegetation
communities. Around Las Vegas, look for this species northeast of town from the east end of Dry Lake Valley eastward into the northwestern corner of Arizona.
Family: Legume (Fabaceae).
Other Names: Beaver Dam scurfpea, Beaver scurfpea, beaver dam breadroot, beaver Indian breadroot, Psoralea castorea. |