1. Spermolepis divaricata (Walter) Raf. ex Ser. (forked scale-seed)
Pl. 212 d, e;
Map 883
Stems 7–60 cm
long, strongly ascending to erect. Leaf blades 0.5–5.0 cm long, oblong to
oblong-ovate in outline. Rays 3–7, 5–35 mm long, equal or only slightly unequal
in length, spreading to loosely ascending, straight or somewhat curved. Flower
stalks 2–15 mm long, the central flower of some umbellets sessile. Ovaries and
fruits roughened with dense, minute tubercles. 2n=16. April–June.
Uncommon in the
Mississippi Lowlands Division (southeastern U.S. west to Kansas and New Mexico;
Mexico). Sand prairies; also fallow fields, sandy roadsides, and railroads.
Missouri specimens of S. divaricata were redetermined as S. diffusa by G. Yatskievych, 2012.