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  Elaeagnaceae : Shepherdia argentea

  R. Neil Reese

  Shepherdia argentea is an erect, perennial, deciduous shrub or small tree, growing 2m to 6m in height and forming thickets by root suckers. Young stems are covered in scaley or stellate hairs giving them a white-mealy appearance, becoming gray with age, and 2–3-year-old twigs often end in spines. The simple leaves are opposite, oblong to oblanceolate, 2-5 cm long, 7-12 mm wide, gray green on both the upper and lower surfaces due to a covering of hairs. The margins are entire, the tip blunt and the blade narrowed at the base with a petiole of 3-6 mm. Buffaloberry is dioecious, the flowers in small clusters on 1 year old twigs. Male flowers have 4 sepals fused to a 8-lobed, shallow disk and have 8 stamens, their filament free. The female flowers have 4 sepals fused to a hairy disk that nearly encloses the pistil. The fruit is an ovoid, drupe-like achene, red, juicy and 5–7 mm long. Buffaloberry blooms in May and June and the fruits remain attached into the fall. They grow throughout South Dakota along streambanks, on hillsides and in ravines.

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  Equisetaceae: Equisetum arvense

  R. Neil Reese

  Equisetum arvense is a perennial, herbaceous vascular plant belonging to the family Equisetaceae. It has a complex root system composed of extensive rhizomes that facilitate vigorous asexual reproduction and spread. The plant produces separate fertile and sterile shoots. Sterile stems are green, photosynthetic, hollow, jointed, and rough-textured due to silica deposits; they are branched or unbranched, typically 30–60 cm tall. Fertile stems appear earlier, are unbranched, pale tan to brownish, and bear spores in cone-like sporangia (strobili) at their tips, 5–10 cm long. Leaves are reduced to small scales fused into sheaths at the stem joints. The plant reproduces via spores rather than seeds. Fertile shoots emerge in early spring, and sterile shoots develop afterward. Spores are produced in spring, and the plant continues vegetative growth throughout the growing season. Field horsetail is native to South Dakota, found in moist to wet habitats such as riverbanks, ditches, wet meadows, and disturbed wetlands, with broad statewide distribution.

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  Equisetaceae : Equisetum hyemale

  R Neil Reese

  Equisetum hyemale is a non-flowering, rhizomatous, evergreen perennial, the stems growing to 2 m in height, generally clustered often forming dense stands. The dark green stems are rigid, rough, hollow, vertically ridged and jointed at each node. The nodes are marked by a whorl of tiny, clasping fused ash gray tooth-like leaves tipped in black and a black band. Teeth are usually shed during the growing season. Sterile and fertile stems are alike in this species, with some stem tips bearing a cone-like fruiting head, 5-25 mm long, which produces numerous minute spherical spores. These sporangia develop from April to October. Scouring rush occurs in wet woods, moist hillsides and peripheries of water bodies in the eastern and western peripheries of South Dakota.

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  Equisetaceae: Equisetum laevigatum

  R. Neil Reese

  Equisetum laevigatum is a perennial, herbaceous vascular plant reproducing primarily via an extensive system of underground rhizomes, allowing vigorous asexual spread. The plant produces green, hollow, jointed, and unbranched sterile stems that are smooth (hence “laevigatum”), typically 30–90 cm tall, with silica deposits giving them a rough texture to the touch. Fertile stems, which are separate, arise in early spring and bear sporangia in cone-like strobili at their tips. Leaves are reduced to small, fused sheaths at stem nodes, and true leaves are absent. Smooth horsetail does not flower but reproduces sexually by spores, produced in fertile cones during early spring. Sterile shoots emerge after the fertile ones and photosynthesize throughout the growing season. Smooth horsetail is native to South Dakota, inhabiting moist to wet areas such as riverbanks, floodplains, wet meadows, and ditches, with distribution statewide, especially in eastern and central regions.

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  Ericaceae : Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

  R. Neil Reese

  Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a perennial low shrub, with trailing flexible stems which form mats 1-2 m in diameter. The bark is reddish on younger stems and light colored and exfoliating on older stems. The leaves are alternate with a short petiole. The blades are entire, spatulate to obovate, evergreen and 1-3 cm long. The upper surface of the leaves is leathery and shiny. The flowers are arranged in terminal racemes or panicles and are often pendulous. The 5 sepals are 1-1.5 mm long, pink to white and persisting in fruit. The corolla is urceolate, white to pink, 4-8 mm long and the lobes are reflexed. There are 10n stamens that are shorter than the petals and a the ovary is 5-celled. The fruit is a fleshy drupe, red, 4-10 mm in diameter containing 5 boney 1-seeded nutlets, Bearberry blooms from May to July and grows in wooded areas on rocky to sandy sights in western South Dakota. This species is commonly found on much of the norther and mountainous regions of North America.

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  Euphorbiaceae: Euphorbia esula var. uralensis

  R. Neil Reese

  Euphorbia esula var. uralensis is a perennial herbaceous plant, a variety of the invasive leafy spurge complex. It grows erect, typically 30–80 cm tall, with multiple branching stems arising from a deep, extensive root system. The stems are smooth and often glaucous (bluish green). Leaves are alternate, narrow, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 2–6 cm long and 5–15 mm wide, with entire margins and a somewhat waxy texture. This variety is distinguished by subtle morphological differences such as leaf shape and size compared to the nominal species, often adapted to more northern or central Eurasian habitats. Flowering occurs from late spring to early summer (May–July). The plant produces inconspicuous flowers surrounded by showy, yellowish-green bracts (cyathia), grouped in clusters at stem tips. The flowers are unisexual, but plants are monoecious. Fruit is a small three-lobed capsule containing seeds with elaiosomes that encourage ant dispersal. Leafy spurge is native to parts of Eurasia and introduced in North America, including South Dakota, where it is an aggressive invasive weed in pastures, rangelands, and disturbed areas.

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  Euphorbiaceae : Euphorbia marginata

  R. Neil Reese

  Euphorbia marginata in an annual herb with white milky sap, erect stems, and growing 20–70 cm tall. The stems are unbranched below inflorescence. The simple, sessile leaves are alternate, ovate to elliptical, 3–8 cm long, with entire margins and a pointed tip. They are a medium green in spring. The upper leaves and bracts gradually develop showy white to pinkish edging. There is a whorl of leaves at the base of the terminal umbel-like inflorescence. The unisex flowers are contained in a cup-like involucre (cyathium), 3–4 mm long with 4-5 white lobes, borne singly at the end of the inflorescence branches. Each cyathia has 1 pistilate flower and 35-60 staminate flowers. The fruit is a hairy capsule 4-6 mm long. Snow on the mountain blooms from June to October on prairies, pastures, roadsides and waste places, usually on calcareous soils, throughout South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae: Amorpha canescens

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha canescens is a small perennial deciduous shrub or subshrub, which grows 30 cm to 1.2 m in height from a deep, rhizomatous root system. Main stems are brown and woody with the few branching stems being green to gray-white. The grey-green leaves are alternate odd-pinnate and appear leaden due to their dense hairiness Leaves contain 29-41 leaflets, are subsessile with the petiole 0.5-1.0 mm long. The rachis is 8-13 cm long, the petiole and rachis densely are pubescent with short whitish to gray woolly hairs. Leaflets are 9-17 mm long and 4-8 mm wide, ovate-oblong to elliptical. The margins are entire. The flowers bloom from May to August and have a 5-lobed fused calyx 1.5-2.0 mm long, with free lobes 1.5-2.0 mm long. Corollas are not papilionaceous, forming a bluish-purple tube that is 4-5 mm long and 2.0-2.5 mm wide. Ten stamens are exserted from the tube, the free portion of the filaments 4-5 mm long with bright yellow anthers. The superior ovary is 1.0-1.5 mm long and densely hairy, with the style 2-3 mm long and having a 3-lobed stigma. The fruits are small (3-4mm) modified 1-seeded legumes. This plant can be found growing in well-drained soils of prairies, bluffs, and open woodlands.

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  Fabaceae : Amorpha fruticosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha fruticosa is a deciduous perennial shrub, which has 1 to several stems growing from 1 m to 3.5 m in height, often branched, forming a bushy top. The alternate, pinnately compound leaves are stipulate (caduceus, narrowly linear 2-4 mm in length) 10 – 30 cm long with 4 – 15 pairs of emarginate leaflets. The inflorescences are solitary to clusters of densely flowered racemes 5-20 cm in length that bloom from June to August. The 5-merous calyx is fused forming a tube 2-3 mm long with broadly rounded to triangular lobes extending about 0.5 mm. The reddish-purple petals form a tube 5-6 mm long that encloses the stamens and pistil. There are 10 stamens 6-8 mm long and united at the base, with bright yellow anthers. The single pistil matures into a legume 5-7 mm by 2-3 mm. False indigo is commonly found along moist stream banks, in the open or in open woods.

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  Fabaceae : Amorpha nana

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha nana is deciduous perennial shrub, which grows 30 cm to 60 cm in height. The stems are branched above, often covered with short hairs when young. The alternate, compound odd-pinnate leaves are 3-10 cm long with 3-10 cm long petioles having associated stipules that are 3-5 mm long. The broadly oblong leaflets are arranged in 6-15 pairs with a single terminal leaflet and are 6-13 mm long by 3-6 mm wide. Dwarf indigo flowers are borne in densely flowered terminal racemes, 3-9 cm long. The dark, purple-colored flowers appear from May to June. The sepals form a short turbinate tube 2-3 mm long with 1-2 mm long triangular lobes. The corolla is composed of petals fused into a tube, 5-6 mm long, with a slender claw, and encloses the stamens and pistil. There are 10 stamens fused at the base and a single pistil. The fruit is a legume, 4.5-5.5 mm long by 2-3 mm wide. This species is commonly found on dry prairies and rocky or sandy hillsides.

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  Fabaceae: Amphicarpaea bracteata

  R. Neil Reese

  Amphicarpaea bracteate is a herbaceous annual vine with thin green stems reaching up to 2 m in length, found climbing on forbs, grasses and shrubs or sprawling on open hillsides or stream banks in shaded areas. The trifoliate alternate leaves have petioles that are 2-10 cm long with persistent membranous stipules. The leaflets are thin ovate with an acute apex and 2-10 cm long by 1.8-7 cm wide. Mouse beans produce 2 types of flowers. The above-ground flowers are found in axillary racemes (1.5-9cm long) and bloom in late summer. Each flower is subtended by 2 bracts. The calyx is composed of 5 sepals form a tube of 4-5 mm with 4 deltoid lobes extending 0.5-2 mm. The papilionaceous corolla is white to lilac in color. The stamens are diadelphous and there is a single pistil that forms a legume that is 1.4-5 cm long containing 2-5 seeds. The cleistogamous flowers are produced on creeping branches and lack well developed petals. They produce a single-seeded black pods containing 1 white seed about 1 cm in diameter.

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  Fabaceae : Apios americana

  R. Neil Reese

  Apios americana is a perennial herbaceous vine growing from slender rhizomes that produce tubers that get up 6 cm in diameter. The stems grow to 5 m long and climb or sprawl over shrubs and trees. The compound pinnate leaves are inserted in an alternate pattern, having deciduous stipules that are 5-7 mm long. The leaves usually have 5-7 leaflets that are ovate to lance-ovate and rounded at the base, with petioles that are 1.5-8 cm long. Flowers are organized in racemes that have a short peduncle (2-5 cm long) and are found in the axils of leaves. The calices are tubular with the lower lobe triangular and up to halve as long as the tube. The corolla is papilionaceous 10-14 mm long, with the banner reflexed, whitish dorsally and reddish ventrally. The wings are brown to purple, downcurved, and the keel is reddish brown. There are 10 diadelphous stamens, and the legume is straight to slightly curved 5-50 mm by 4-6 mm.

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  Fabaceae: Astragalus canadensis

  R Neil Reese

  Astragalus canadensis is a rhizomatous perennial herb with erect stems growing 30-120 cm in height. The herbage is sparsely to densely covered in ax-shaped hairs. The alternate, sessile to short petiolate, compound odd-pinnate leaves are 5-35 cm long, with 11 to 35, narrow, elliptic leaflets, 1–4 cm long, with blunt to rounded tips and lanceolate stipules 5–10 mm long. The inflorescence consists of axillary spike-like racemes, 4-20 cm long, with 30 to 100 papilionaceous flowers on a peduncle of 2-10 cm. The calyx tube is 4-7 mm long, with teeth 1-4 mm long. The corolla is greenish white to yellowish white, the banner 11-16 mm long, the wings are 10-14 mm long and the keel is 9-13 mm long and occasionally purple tipped. The wings and keel are narrowed at the base. The fruit are erect legumes, elliptic to cylindric in shape, and 9–15 mm long. Canada milkvetch blooms from May through August in moist prairies, along riverbanks and on open wooded hillsides in much of South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae : Astragalus ceramicus var. filifolius

  R. Neil Reese

  Astragalus ceramicus var. filifolius is a perennial herb from buried, spreading rhizomatous caudex. The solitary stems are lax to ascending, 3-40 cm long with silvery, stiff, appressed hairs. The compound leaves are alternate, odd pinnate, 2–17 cm long, often reduced to just the rachis, with the lower most leaves having 3-5 leaflets, with slender petioles and lanceolate stipules, 2–6 mm long, and often united basally. The inflorescence is comprised of axillary racemes of 2-7 white to light purple, papilionaceous flowers on peduncles of 1.5-7 cm in length. The hairy calyx tube is 2-3 mm long with teeth ~1 mm long. The banner is 6-9 mm long, the wings 6-8 mm long and the keel 6-8 mm long, all of the petals narrowed near the base. The fruit are legumes, each pod has a stipe of 1-3 mm in length, is inflated, red mottled, 3-5 cm long and 1.4-2.6 cm in diameter. Painted milkvetch blooms in June and July in sand dunes and sandy prairies in south central and northwest South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae : Astragalus crassicarpus

  R. Neil Reese

  Astragalus crassicarpus is a perennial, prostrate to suberect herb, 11-60 cm in height, with many hair covered stems growing from a well branched caudex atop of a tap root. The alternate, compound leaves are pinnately dissected, 4-13 cm long, with 13-27 oblanceolate to linear leaflets, 3-17 mm long, 3-6 mm wide, with hairs that make them appear slightly grayish, with lanceolate stipules 3-8 mm long. The inflorescence is composed of axillary racemes of 5-25 bluish, purple or white with purple-tipped papilionaceous flowers on peduncles 2-10 cm long. The calyx tube is 6-9 mm long, with black and/or white stiff appressed hairs and teeth 1-4 mm long. The banner petal is notched, 16-24 mm long, the wings are 16-18 mm long, and the keel is 11-15 mm long and narrowed at the base. The fruit is a red to purple, globose, fleshy legume, 15 -25 mm long, resembling a plum. Ground plum blooms from April to June on prairie hillsides, along stream bank and in open woods throughout South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae : Astragalus gilviflorus

  R. Neil Reese

  Astragalus gilviflorus is a perennial, cushion-forming, acaulescent or very short-stemmed (<3 cm>long) herb, covered with silvery ax-shaped hairs. The compound, alternate, petiolate, leaves, have conspicuous, membranous or chartaceous stipules that are persistent, clasping and forming a tube or sheath around the stem. The leaves are trifoliolate, sometimes odd pinnate with 5 leaflets, the leaflets oblanceolate, 5–20 mm long with entire margins. The inflorescences are axillary, globose capitate or subcapitate racemes with 1-6 flowers. The 5-lobed cylindrical calyx tube is hairy, 6-15 mm long with teeth 1.5-4 mm in length. The corolla is papilionaceous, the white petals are clawed (narrowed at the base), the banner is slightly reflexed, 15–30 mm long, the wings 12-24 mm long and the keel is 10–22 mm long, often purple-tipped. The fruit is a legume, 6-10 mm long, oblong or ellipsoidal, exserted from calyx, beaked, hairy, and contains 3-10 mitt shaped seeds. Prairie milkvetch blooms in May and June on rocky prairie hilltops, slopes or barren flats in western South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae: Astragalus racemosus

  R Neil Reese

  Astragalus racemosus is a perennial herb growing from a branched caudex, with multiple, often branched, erect to ascending stems, 15-70 cm tall that are thinly to densely covered with appressed hairs. The alternate, compound odd-pinnate leaves are4-15 cm long, with short petioles below and sessile above, with stipules 3-12 mm long. there are 11-31 leaflets, 1-4 cm long, the lower leaves having broader lance-elliptic leaflets, and the upper leaves with narrower lanceolate leaflets. The inflorescence consist of axillary racemes with 15-70 papilionaceous flowers on peduncles 3-11 cm long. The flowers are generally nodding on pedicels 2-3.5 mm long. The calyx tube is covered in white, appressed hairs, .bell-shaped, 5-7 mm long, sometimes swollen at the base with 5 awn-like lobes, 2-10 mm long. the 5 petals are white to cream colored with purplish tips and or streaks. The banner is 6-12 mm long, the clawed (constricted at the base) wings 12-19 mm long, and the clawed keel 10-16 mm long. The fruit are triangularly compressed legumes, 3.5-7 cm long, 3-6 mm in diameter, with a stipe on the end that is up to 7 mm long. Alkali milkvetch blooms from May to July on poorer soils in prairies, plains, hillsides and in stream valleys in western South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae : Dalea aurea

  R. Neil Reese

  Dalea aurea is a perennial herb with 1 to several erect stems coming from a woody caudex atop a taproot and growing 20-75 cm in height. The stems are simple or branched above and covered with silky hairs. The petiolate leaves are alternate, compound odd-pinnate, blades 1-4 cm long, with 5-7 oblanceolate leaflets, 4-16 mm long. The leaves are largest toward the stem base and are reduced above. The inflorescence consists of silky-haired, many flowered, terminal cone-like spikes on the main stem and branches, becoming oblong-cylindrical, 1.5-7 cm long. The calyx tube is 2-3 mm long, with teeth 3.5-5 mm long and is densely covered with silky hairs. The corolla is papilionaceous, yellow, with all of the petals clawed (narrowed at the base). The petals above the claws measure as follows: banner 6.5-8.6 mm, wings 5-6 mm, and the keel 5.7-8.5 mm long. The fruit is a one-seeded legume, 3-4 mm long and covered with silky hairs. Golden prairie clover blooms from June into September in prairies, open hillsides, in ravines and in stream valleys in western and southwestern South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae : Dalea candida

  R. Neil Reese

  Dalea candida is a perennial herb with 1-several erect stems, simple or branching from above, growing from a caudex attached to a thick taproot, each stem 30 to 100 cm in height. The alternate, compound odd-pinnate, leaves are 1.5-6 cm long, with a short petiole, and 5-13 narrow, gland-dotted, light green leaflets, each 5-35 mm long. The inflorescence is a loose to dense cylindrical spike of flowers, 1.5-7.5 cm long, at the tip of each stem or stem branch. Each flower has a green calyx tube 1.9-2.7 mm long with teeth 0.6-1.8 mm long. The papilionaceous corollas have white clawed (narrowed at the base) petals that measure above the claws: banner 4-5.7 mm long, the wings and keel 3.2-5.3 mm long. The flowers at the base open first and the upper ones bloom later. The fruit is a green oval legume pod, 2.5-4.5 mm long, containing one seed. White prairie clover blooms from May to August on prairies, open woodlands and roadsides throughout South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae : Dalea enneandra

  R. Neil Reese

  Dalea enneandra is a perennial herb with 1-3 erect stems, branched above the middle, which are 5-10 dm tall and arise from a caudex attached to a yellow taproot. The alternate, nearly sessile, pinnately compound leaves are 1.3-2.6 cm long, with leaves on the main stem often deciduous by time of anthesis. The leaves 5-13 leaflets, narrowly oblanceolate, 4-12 mm long with black glands on the leaflets and midrib. The inflorescence consists of terminal, 2-ranked spikes, with 5-35 flowers, subtended by bracts, 3-4 mm long with pale or white membranous margins. The calyx tube is covered with silky hairs, 3-3.7 mm long with 5 teeth 3.3-4.6 mm long. The papilionaceous white petals are clawed (narrowed at the base) with the remainder of the petals measuring as follows: banner 5.7-7 mm, wings 2.8-4.1 mm, and the keel 5.5-7 mm long. There are 9 stamens. The fruit are one-seeded legumes, 3-4 mm long. Nine-anther prairie clover blooms in July and August in prairies, on hillside and in stream valleys in most of South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae : Dalea purpurea

  R. Neil Reese

  Dalea purpurea is a perennial herb, with ascending to prostrate stems, which grow singly or in groups from a woody caudex, 20 to 90 cm in height. The stems can vary from smooth to very hairy. The alternate, odd-pinnate compound leaves are 1.5-4.5 cm long, with 3-7 linear to linear-oblanceolate leaflets, 10-28 mm long and can be smooth to hairy. The inflorescence consists of terminal, conical, densely hairy spikes, 1-7 cm long attached to a peduncles 0-15 cm long. Each flower is subtended by hairy bracts, 2.5-5.8 mm long. The densely hairy, bell-shaped calyx tube is 2-3 mm long with teeth 1-2 mm long. The papilionaceous corolla has clawed (narrowed at the base), pinkish to rose to purple-colored petals with the petal length beyond the claws as follows: banner 4.5-7 mm, wing and keel 3-5 mm long. The fruit is a single-seeded legume, 2-2.5 mm long. Purple prairie clover blooms from May into August on prairies, hillsides, open woods and stream valleys throughout South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae: Gleditsia triacanthos

  R. Neil Reese

  Gleditsia triacanthos is a deciduous tree known for its rapid growth, thorny branches, and distinctive compound leaves. It typically grows 15–25 meters tall, sometimes reaching up to 30 meters and has a broad, open crown. The bark is gray-brown and deeply furrowed. Branches bear large, branched thorns up to 20 cm long, though thornless cultivars exist. Leaves are pinnately or bipinnately compound, 20–40 cm long, with numerous small, ovate to lanceolate leaflets about 2–5 cm long and 1–2 cm wide. The tree is deciduous, shedding leaves in late fall. Flowering occurs in late spring (May–June). The flowers are small, greenish-yellow, and fragrant, arranged in loose, open racemes. Each flower is typically about 5–7 mm long. Each flower has four sepals and four petals. The sepals are small, green, and fused at the base, about 2–3 mm long, with lanceolate lobes. The petals are also small, about 3–5 mm long, yellow-green, and somewhat irregular in shape. The tree produces long, flattened pods 15–30 cm in length, containing several hard, brown seeds. Pods mature in fall and persist through winter. Honey locust is native to eastern South Dakota and the central United States. It is commonly used in landscaping and is widely naturalized throughout South Dakota, often found in floodplains, open woodlands, and along rivers.

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  Fabaceae : Glycyrrhiza lepidota

  R. Neil Reese

  Glycyrrhiza lepidota is a perennial herb arising from deep, woody, aromatic roots with multiple, erect stems, which grow 30-120 cm in height and are typically dotted with glands. The leaves are alternate, with petioles 5-50 mm long and stipules 3-7 mm long. The blades are compound odd-pinnate with oblong to lanceolate leaflets, 2-7 cm long with glandular dots, in groups of 7 to 21. The inflorescences are axial, dense, spike-like racemes of numerous flowers, with peduncles 1–6 cm long. The flowers have tubular-campanulate green calyx tubes that are 2-2.5 mm long, with teeth 2.5–3 mm long, the tube and teeth both having stalked glands. The papilionaceous corollas have white to yellowish white petals, the banner moderately erect, 10-14 mm long, keel and wings 8-12 mm long. There are 9 united stamens and 1 separate stamen. The fruit is an ellipsoid legume, 1–2 cm long going from green to orangish-brown with age and covered with hooked bristles 2–3 mm long. The fruit remain through the winter. American licorice blooms from July into September in prairie ravines, along streams and lakeshores and in other moist areas throughout South Dakota.

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  Fabaceae: Gymnocladus dioicus

  R Neil Reese

  Gymnocladus dioicus is a large, deciduous, perennial tree with rough bark and growing to 23 m tall. The young twigs are brown, hairless with light brown to orange lenticels. The large leaves are alternate, bipinnate, 30-90 cm long, 30-60 cm wide, with each leaf having 3-7 pairs of pinnae (branches), the branches up to 10 cm long and having 4-7 pairs of leaflets on each branch. The leaflets are 4-7 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, rounded at the base, pointed at the tip with entire margins. The inflorescence consists of terminal racemes or panicles, 5-30 cm long. the flowers have a tubular-obconic hypanthium 6-10 mm long, with 5 oblong sepals, 3-5 petals 4-5 mm long, 10 stamens with those opposite the petals slightly longer than those opposite the sepals. The trees generally produce either male or female flowers,but usually also produce some perfect flowers.The fruit is a flattened, oblong, indehiscent legume 5-15cm long and 3-5 cm wide, containing dark seeds, 15-20 mm in diameter. The fruit is green in the summer and turns purplish-brown as it dries. Kentucky coffee blooms in May and June in woodlands along streams and on open hillsides in southeastern South Dakota. This species has been planted in windbreaks and urban landscapes throughout SD and can be found in many regions as an introduced species.

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  Fabaceae: Hylodesmum glutinosum

  R. Neil Reese

  Hylodesmum glutinosum is a perennial, herbaceous vine or sprawling plant in the Fabaceae family. It grows from a deep taproot and produces slender, sometimes hairy, trailing or climbing stems typically growing from 30 to 90 (140) cm tall. Leaves are alternate, trifoliate, with each leaflet ovate to elliptical, 3–7 cm long and 1.5–3 cm wide, with entire to slightly toothed margins. Each trifoliate leaf is attached to the stem by a petiole, with small, leaf-like stipules at the base of each leaf petiole. Leaflets are attached to the petiole by short stalks called petiolules. Flowering occurs mid to late summer (June–September). Flowers are pea-shaped, 1–1.5 cm long, purplish pink to lavender, appearing singly or in small clusters in leaf axils. The calyx has five sepals fused into a tubular base with five pointed lobes, 5 to 8 mm long and often glandular-hairy. The corolla consists of five petals typical of legumes: one large upright banner, two lateral wings, and two fused keel petals, ranging from 12 to 20 mm long. There are 10 stamens arranged in a diadelphous configuration; nine stamens are fused together into a tube surrounding the pistil, while one stamen remains free. The pistil is superior with a single carpel; the slender style curves upward to a small stigma. Fruits are legume pods measuring 3 to 6 cm long, slightly sticky or glandular, containing several seeds, and mature in summer to early fall. In South Dakota, large tick-trefoil is typically found in eastern and southeastern regions where habitats include open woodlands, prairies, thickets, streambanks, and sometimes along roadsides or disturbed areas.

  Synonym: Desmodium glutinosum