Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fabales > Fabaceae > Pediomelum > Pediomelum californicum

Pediomelum californicum (California Indian breadroot)

Synonyms: Lotodes californicum (homotypic); Psoralea californica (homotypic); Psoralea monticola

Wikipedia Abstract

Pediomelum californicum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name California Indian breadroot. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the chaparral and woodlands of the coastal mountain ranges. It is a perennial herb with no stem or a short stem that is mostly underground, leaving the plant at ground level. The compound leaves are each made up of five to seven oval leaflets which may be nearly 3 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a raceme of several blue or purple pealike flowers each about a centimeter long. The fruit is a hairy oval beak-tipped legume pod up to a centimeter long containing smooth kidney-shaped seeds.
View Wikipedia Record: Pediomelum californicum

Attributes

Edible [1]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [1]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [1]  Although no specific mention of toxicity for this species has been found, at least some members of this genus contain furanocoumarins, these substances can cause photosensitivity in some people;
Lifespan [1]  Perennial
Pollinators [1]  Insects, Lepidoptera
Usage [1]  Valuable under natural conditions as a soil stabilizer;
Height [1]  8 inches (0.2 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Pediomelum californicum

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0