Sesbania vesicaria (Jacq.)
Elliott (bladderpod, bagpod)
Glottidium vesicarium (Jacq.) R.M. Harper
Robinia vesicaria Jacq.
Map 1803
Stems 70–200(–300)
cm long, the base often somewhat swollen and hardened. Leaves
8–30 cm long, with 16–50 leaflets. Leaflets 10–40 mm
long, 4–7 mm wide, narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic, the surfaces glabrous
or less commonly with short appressed hairs.
Inflorescences 6–14 cm long, the flower stalks 5–12 mm long. Calyces
with the tube 2.5–4.0 mm long, glabrous, the margin more or less truncate,
slightly asymmetrically wavy, the lobes essentially absent. Corollas
8–10 mm long, pale yellow to greenish yellow, often tinged with maroon or
purple. Fruits 1–8 cm long, 9–18 mm wide, narrowly oblong to elliptic,
relatively long-stalked at the base, narrowed to
acute winglike margins (narrowly biconvex in
cross-section), convex or wavy-sided, the faces broadly flattened between the
seeds, (1)2-seeded. Seeds 9–12 mm long, broadly ellipsoid, 2n=12. July–October.
Introduced, known thus far from a
single collection from Taney County (southeastern U.S. west to Oklahoma and
Texas). Gardens and disturbed areas.
Sesbania vesicaria is included in the Missouri flora based on a
specimen collected in 2001 by Mary Heiss of Branson
from plants that appeared spontaneously as weeds around a pile of soil and
compost in her garden, apparently having been brought in as seed contaminants
in the soil of bedding plants. These plants flowered, set seed, and grew again
for at least one additional season. Although the presence of a species as a
garden weed at a single site is not usually grounds for its addition to the
flora, the presence of S. vesicaria in the wild in northwestern Arkansas argues
that it plausibly might be discovered elsewhere in southwestern Missouri in the
future.
The taxonomy of S. vesicaria remains somewhat
controversial. Most previous authors have treated this species as the sole
member of the segregate genus Glottidium Desv. However, Isely (1998) noted that this segregation was problematic
and required further research. Molecular phylogenetic studies by Lavin and
Doyle (1991) and the morphologically based phylogenetic research of Lavin and
Sousa S. (1995) provided evidence that Glottidium is merely a specialized element within Sesbania. That
treatment is followed here.