OTHER COMMENTS: This regional endemic apparently has a rather narrow global range. 

 Montana populations are small and may be indirectly threatened by management activities. Cattle 

 trails dissect the population at Newberry Knob. The low growing habit of Phy sari a hrassicoides 

 protects it from grazing, and it is adapted to erosion settings, but cattle trails may facilitate invasion 

 of exotic weeds, which are likely to be the greatest threat to populations. Melilotus officinalis was 

 observed in the Newberry Knob population area, is an aggressive colonizer of barren habitats in 

 Carter County, and has been noted as a management concern for the species elsewhere in its range 

 (North Dakota Natural Heritage Program 1990). With the discovery of Physaria hrassicoides on 

 BLM land, BLM watch status designation is appropriate. 



Psoralea hypogaea Nuttall 



LITTLE INDIAN BREADROOT 



Bean Family (Fabaceae) 



CONSERVATION STATUS 



U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: None 



Bureau of Land Management: Watch 



Montana Natural Heritage Program: G5 S2; The species is demonstrably secure 

 throughout its range, but may be imperiled in Montana where it is rare. 



DESCRIPTION: Little indian breadroot is a perermial herb with a deeply buried, club-shaped, 

 edible root, up to 6 cm (2 in) long, surmounted by a subterranean connecting stem. Above ground, 

 the stem enlarges and gives rise to a rosette of long-petioled, palmately divided into 3-7 linear- 

 elliptic leaflets, 25-50 mm (1-2 in) long. Foliage is covered with dot-like glands and dense white 

 appressed hairs, but upper leaf surfaces become glabrous with age. Blue, pea-like flowers are borne 

 in condensed spikes arising among the bases of the leaf petioles at or barely above ground level. The 

 tubular calyx, 6-9 mm long, has 4 long, narrow lobes and a fifth that is longer and broader. The 

 upper petal is 10-13 mm long and points forward. The hairy pods are egg-shaped, ca. 5 mm long, 

 with a beak, 5-13 mm long. Seeds have conspicuous irregular ridges on their faces. 



Psoralea hypogaea superficially resembles a stemless lupine such as Lupinus lepidus; however, 

 lupines lack glandular dots on the leaf surfaces. It most closely resembles common indian breadroot 

 {Psoralea esculenta), which differs from little indian breadroot in having elongated aboveground 

 stems. 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 



Global distribution: Great Plains; central to eastern Montana, eastern Wyoming, north 

 central to western Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, northern 

 Texas, and northeastern New Mexico (Great Plains Flora Association 1986, and MTNHP 

 records). 



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