Forest Scurfpea

Hoita physodes (Dougl.) Rydberg
Psoralea physodes Dougl.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 136. 1831. Lotodes physodes Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 194. 1891. ■
A perennial, with a rootstock; stem erect, 3-8 dm. high, angled and grooved, glabrous or sparingly black-hairy; leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, rarely 5-foliolate; stipules 4-6 mm. long, lanceolate, acute, reflexed; petioles 3-5 cm. long; leaflets with short hairy petiolules, 2-6 cm. long, 2-4 cm. wide, broadly rhombic-ovate to suborbicular, acute, mucronate, strongly reticulate, rather sparingly hirsutulous on the veins; peduncles 3-6 cm. long, sparingly hairy; racemes dense and short, 2-3 cm. long; rachis and pedicels strongly black-hairy; pedicels 1-3 mm. long; calyx rather conspicuously glandular-dotted, more or less blackand white-hairy, in fruit enlarged and inflated; tube 4 mm. long in anthesis, 6-7 mm. in fruit; lobes triangular, acuminate, shorter than the tube; corolla about 12 mm. long, ochroleucous, with a purple-tipped keelbanner oblanceolate, obtuse, with rounded basal lobes, tapering into a broad claw; blades of the wings obliquely lunate, with an ovate basal lobe, equaling the claws, those of the keelpetals broader and slightly shorter, with a rounded basal lobe; pod 6 mm. long, oval, compressed, blackand white-hairy, copiously glandular-dotted.
Type locality: Great Falls of the Columbia.
Distribution: Vancouver Island to southern California.

Perennial, Herbs, Stems woody below, or from woody crown or caudex, Taproot present, Nodules present, Plants stoloniferous, Stems erect or ascending, Stems or branches arching, spreading or decumbent, Stems prostrate, trailing, or mat forming, Stems less than 1 m tall, Plants gland-dotted or with gland-tipped hairs, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs sparsely to densely hairy, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules green, triangulate to lanceolate or foliaceous, Stipules setiform, subulate or acicular, Stipules persistent, Stipules free, Leaves compound, Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets 1, Leaflets 3, Leaves glandular punctate or gland-dotted, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Leaves reduced to phyllodia, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx gibbous, inflated, or spurred, Calyx glabrous, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals ochroleucous, cream colored, 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 monadelphous, united below, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit indehiscent, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit enclosed in calyx, Fruit beaked, Fruit hairy, Fruit 1-seeded, Seeds reniform, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.

Rupertia physodes is a species of legume known by the common names forest scurfpea and California tea.

It is native to west coast and coastal mountains of California, and northwards through the Cascade Range into Idaho and British Columbia.