Galactia canescens
Family: Fabaceae
Description: Perennial. Trailing perennial with stems to 120 cm or longer. Leaves, alternate, trifoliate, leaflets 1.5-3.5 cm long, often gray or silvery, elliptic. Flowers in racemes, strongly bilateral, pea shaped; corollas pink or purple, Self-pollinating. Petals 8-12 mm long, rose-lavender or purple.
Field Identification: Trifoliate leaf trailing ground plant with pink to purple bilateral flowers. Bean pods curved.
Plant Trivia: Galactia — from Greek galaktos (“milk”), referring to milk-like substances in related species. anescens — Latin for “becoming gray or hoary,” describing the soft grayish hairs on leaves and stems. Produces underground flowers like peanuts. Texas endemic.
Occurrence: Frequent in sandy prairies and openings or on island dunes. Texas to eastern Mexico, including the Gulf Coast and Southeastern U.S. Subtropical biomes, often in open, disturbed, or woodland areas.
Bloom Period: April-October
Plant Use: Pollen and nectar source for small insect
Dichotomous Key to the Genus Galactica:
- Leaves simple………………………………………………..…..G. marginalis
Leaves compound…………………………………………………………………….2
2. Leaves mostly 4-5 foliate…………………..………….G. heterophylla
Leaves 3-foliate……………………………………………………………………….3
3. Leaves mostly less than twice as long as wide…..G. canescens
Leaves at least 3 times as long as wide………………G. longifolia
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