Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Spreadfruit Goldenbanner
Thermopsis divaricarpa
Pea family (Fabaceae)

This species and the similar Mountain Goldenbean Thermopsis montana put on a fine flower show in the spring, for they not only have very attractive and noticeable bright yellow flowers, but they also spread into colonies of many plants making them even more noticeable and attractive. Spreadfruit Goldenbanner was named and described by Aven Nelson in 1898. "Divaricarpa" means "spreading ," i.e., "spreading seed pods."


©2009 Russ Kleinman & Richard Felger, Western
New Mexico University Department of Natural
Sciences and the Dale A. Zimmerman Herbarium

Description

plant with creeping rootstocks sending up multiple plants in colonies. Stems erect, 1 1/2' to 3' tall, to hairy. 1-2" long, or sparsely hairy (especially below). a diverging pod, straight or slightly curved, hairy to .

Field Marks

Two to three foot colonial plant with spreading leaves and seed pods and clusters of bright yellow flowers.

© Al Schneider

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

carpel -- the basic female reproductive organ in flowering plants, consisting of the stigma, style, and ovary.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

glabrate -- Almost smooth and glossy or becoming smooth and glossy with age.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

leaflets -- Each little leaf-like thing in a compound leaf is a leaflet.