Tailed Nicker

Schrammia caudata (A. Gray) Britton & Rose
Hoffmanseggia caudata A. Gray. Best. Journ. Nat. Hist. 6: 179. 1850. Caesalpinia caudata E. M. Fisher. Bot. Gaz. 18: 123. 1893.
Stems slender, glabrous, 3-5 dm. high, the branches bearing a few black glands. Leaves glabrous; pinnae 3-9, the lateral pairs distant, 2-4 cm. long, of few pairs of leaflets, the terminal pinna 4-6 cm. long, with 9-11 pairs; leaflets broadly ovate, subcordate, chartaceous, 2.5-6 mm. long, acute, glabrous, sparingly black-glandular-dotted, strongly palmately and pinnately few-veined and sparingly reticulaled; racemes 2 dm. long, or shorter, glabrous, blackdotted; bracts ovate, membranous, 2 mm. long; pedicels spreading or ascending, glandular, 4-6 mm. long; calyx densely appressed-puberulent and glandular, 6-7 mm. long; petals about twice as long as the calyx; legume 2-4 cm. long, 10-17 mm. wide.
Type ixjcality: Between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. Texas. Distribution: Southwestern Texas and New Mexico.

Perennial, Shrubs, Woody throughout, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems less than 1 m tall, Plants gland-dotted or with gland-tipped hairs, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous o r sparsely glabrate, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules inconspicuous, absent, or caducous, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules deciduous, Stipules free, Stipules toothed or laciniate, Leaves compound, Leaves even pinnate, Leaves bipinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets alternate or subopposite, Leaflets 10-many, Leaves glandular punctate or gland-dotted, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts conspicuously present, Flowers actinomorphic or somewhat irregular, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx hairy, Petals separate, Petals clawed, Petals orange or yellow, Petals bicolored or with red, purple or yellow streaks or spots, Banner petal narrow or oblanceolate, Banner petal ovoid or obovate, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens completely free, separate, Stamens long exserted, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit freely dehiscent, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit strongly curved, falcate, bent, or lunate, Fruit exserted from calyx, Fruit hairy, Fruit gland-dotted or with gland-tipped hairs, Fruit 2-seeded, Fruit 3-10 seeded, Seeds ovoid to rounded in outline, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.