WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

This distinctive 4–16-inch tall, densely hairy plant has branching stems and spreading, yellow flowers. Note the leaves with a single pair of grayish-green leaflets joined at the base.

FLOWERS: April–August. Clusters of 2 (1–3) flowers on long stems (peduncles) from the leaf axils, 5 yellow petals 3/8–1/2-inch long (9–12 mm), oval to rounded with a tapering claw; sepals surrounding the bud are densely hairy; fruit a hairy, slightly-curved, pod 3/4–1 1/2-inches long (2–4 cm), round with slight constrictions between the seeds.

LEAVES: Alternate on long stems (petioles). Twin oval to oblong leaflets 3/4–1 3/4-inches long (2–4.5 cm), rounded at both ends, softly hairy on both sides, with a small, erect gland on the petiole between the leaflets.

HABITAT: Dry sandy, gravelly soils, washes, flats, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, foothills.

ELEVATION: 3,200–6,400 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 6 species of Senna in NM, most with very limited distribution. Two-leaf Senna, S. roemeriana, in the plains of the eastern half of NM, has twin lance-shaped (not oval) leaflets.

NM COUNTIES: Southern NM and scattered elsewhere in low-elevation, arid habitats: Chaves, Cibola, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Luna, Otero, Roosevelt, San Miguel, Sierra, Socorro.