North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Tephrosia spicata

Tephrosia spicata (Walter) Torr. & A. Gray

spiked hoarypea

Synonym(s): Cracca flexuosa, Cracca spicata, Galega spicata, Tephrosia flexuosa, Tephrosia spicata var. semitonsa

Image ID: 18951
Image by: Ware, Richard & Teresa
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: TESP
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Tephrosia spicata
Include in WOTAS: 1
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2018-01-09

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: TEPHR
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Tephrosia
GENUS AUTHORITY: Pers.
GENUS COMMON: Hoarypea
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of about 350-400 species, perennial herbs, of tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World and New World.
GENUS IDENTIFICATION:
GENUS REFERENCES: Isely (1998)=I; Ward (2004c)=Z; Wood (1949)=Y. Key adapted from SE.

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: FABACE
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Fabaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: Lindley 1836 or LEGUMINOSAE A.L. de Jussieu 1789
FAMILY COMMON: Legume Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: A family of about 730 genera and 20,000 species, trees, shrubs, and herbs, cosmopolitan.
FAMILY REFERENCE: Isely (1990)=SE (throughout the family treatment); Isely (1998)=I; Lewis et al. (2005); Wojciechowski, Lavin, & Sanderson (2004); Wilbur (1963a); Robertson & Lee (1976).

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO: Reclining-sprawling to weakly erect perennial of dry, sandy woodlands and clearings.
STEMS: Stems 1-many from a single crown, densely covered with rusty hairs.
LEAVES: Leaves alternate, on petioles less than 1/2 in. long, 1Â½-3 in. long and pinnately divided into 7-17 elliptic to oblong leaflets, each to 1Â½ in. long and with a sharp tip; rusty hairs cover the petioles, leaf rachis and leaflet margins.
INFLORESCENCE:
FLOWERS: Flowers in stalked racemes of 2-20, arising opposite leaves (uppermost one appears terminal); white turning maroon; Â½-3/4 in. long; bilaterally symmetric and with typical pea-flower shape but usually not opening completely.
FRUITS: Fruit a hairy, flattened and slightly curved pod.
COMMENTS: Spreading rusty to tawny hairs conspicuously cover all parts of this plant. The similar T. hispidula is covered with less conspicuous gray hairs and has fewer flowers per raceme; it is a Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic, blooming in pine savannas May-August.
HEIGHT: 2-3 ft.

DURATION: Perennial
HABIT: Herb

LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Alternate
LEAF COMPLEXITY:
LEAF RETENTION:

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY: Bilateral (Zygomorphic)
BLOOM TIME: Jun-Aug

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
				x	x	x	x	x

BLOOM COLOR: White turning maroon

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable
x	x

FRUITING PERIOD: Jul-Oct.

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Sandhills, Woods margins
NATIVE RANGE:

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text:

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE: Dry, Average
LIGHT EXPOSURE: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE:
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE:
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM COLLECTIONS

Coll_id	Project	Collection date	Collector	Action
110	HORT	2011-08-03	Poythress	View
1957	HORT	0000-00-00	NCBG staff	View
2035	NPMD	2020-07-16	Summer	View

GRIM ACCESSIONS

acc_id	acc_num	acc_dt	coll_id	Action
109	2012-0082	2012-11-13	110	View
4673	1992-0829			View
9212	2014-0012	2020-05-05	1957	View

GRIM PLANTINGS

plt_num	acc_id	loc_num	pers_num	inst_dt	Action
188	109	15	Liloia	2012-08-15	View
189	109	16	Liloia	2012-08-15	View
7002	4673	200	NCBG staff	1993-03-01	View
12296	9212	16	Liloia	2014-08-26	View
12297	9212	15	Liloia	2014-08-26	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: TESP
USDA Common Name: Spiked Hoarypea
Native Status: L48 (N)
Distribution: USA (AL, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA)
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Forb/herb

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Tephrosia spicata
COMMON NAME: Spiked Hoarypea
SYNONYMY: [= C, G, K, RAB, SE, Va, W, WH3, Y; > T. spicata var. semitonsa Fernald - F; > T. spicata var. spicata - F; = Cracca spicata (Walter) Kuntze - S]
PHENOLOGY: Jun-Aug; Jul-Oct.
HABITAT: Sandhills, woodlands.
COMMENTS: S. DE south to s. FL, west to w. LA, north in the interior to se., sc., and sw. TN and se. KY.
RANGE MAP: Tephrosia spicata.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Fabaceae Lindley 1836 or LEGUMINOSAE A.L. de Jussieu 1789 (Legume Family)
SUMMARY: A family of about 730 genera and 20,000 species, trees, shrubs, and herbs, cosmopolitan.
REFERENCE: Isely (1990)=SE (throughout the family treatment); Isely (1998)=I; Lewis et al. (2005); Wojciechowski, Lavin, & Sanderson (2004); Wilbur (1963a); Robertson & Lee (1976).

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Tephrosia Pers. (Hoarypea)
SUMMARY: A genus of about 350-400 species, perennial herbs, of tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World and New World.
REFERENCE: Isely (1998)=I; Ward (2004c)=Z; Wood (1949)=Y. Key adapted from SE.

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Tephrosia spicata in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Tephrosia spicata in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Tephrosia spicata in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Tephrosia spicata in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Tephrosia spicata in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Tephrosia spicata

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 18951 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 18951 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 0 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 18951 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)